markk
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Posts posted by markk
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I was just about to drive to Tabatchnick's in the Millburn Mall on Vaux Hall Road (where Syd's used to be) and I thought to call them before I went. The phone's disconnected. I eventually got the number of the Drug Fair that's on the other wing of that strip mall, and was told that Tabatchnick's closed up, as did the bakery and the kosher deli.
Does anybody know any more about this? Is there still a Tabatchnick's making soup somewhere?
Talk about a shock!
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Also, make sure to head to Rascal House for one last meal. it's being torn down later this year.
I'm not so sure that Rascal House is do-able. I think it would be a sadder than sad experience at this point.
I should add here that nobody loved that place more than I did. I used to eat 7 dinners a week there when I'd vacation in Miami several times a year. But the Jerry's people destroyed it, and over the few years since they bought it, it's gotten worse, and worse, and worse. Now it's just a very (very) sad shadow of its former self, with food that's even sadder.
Personally, I think they did it in stages, on purpose, so that nobody would miss the place when they ultimately got rid of it. But if you go (anybody) and get anything remotely edible, and have even a marginally enjoyable visit, please do post about it!
It's a shonda what they did to that place, for certain. Snuffing it out slowly only to tear it down. A shonda!
The lunch was pretty terrible, but I have to say that the danish and baked goods are still top notch. Probably because they have to bake for Jerry's and Epicure. Tragic. Truly.
Yes, I took out a circular nut pastry last year (well, I don't know the singular of 'schnecken'), and it was really good.
So - where do we go now for good Jewish food in Miami?
I was recommended to Mo's Bagels in Aventura, and I've had several good lunches there. The dinner selection looks great, but they close the doors and you have to be done eating at 7:30 pm, and for me, that's way too early to eat, especially on vacation, so I think it'll never happen. But, is there any place else for a nice boiled beef Flanken around?
Interestingly, right after Jerry's opened, I had read a review that made it sound so horrible, the food specifically, that it was hard to imagine a place being that terrible. So we went for pastrami sandwiches for lunch, and it was just as bad as the person had described it. I don't get it.
A few years after that, when Rascal House turned horrible (and we had no where to go for our Flanken dinners), I called Jerrys HQ in California and spoke to the CEO's #2 person to tell her that they had destroyed tthe place and that the food was inedible. All she could say to me was "our numbers are up there, and this is the first complaint we've heard." I told her that on the various nights I had gone (until I finally gave up) there were very (very) serious compalints, turning into major scenes between a lot of really irate customers and managment, with one waitress advising a dissatisfied customer "this is the NEW Rascal House - take it or leave it!". The Jerry's exec said she had no idea of any of that.
Well, the end of an era. I actually remember the South Beach Wolfie's from the 1950's, too.
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Also, make sure to head to Rascal House for one last meal. it's being torn down later this year.
I'm not so sure that Rascal House is do-able. I think it would be a sadder than sad experience at this point.
I should add here that nobody loved that place more than I did. I used to eat 7 dinners a week there when I'd vacation in Miami several times a year. But the Jerry's people destroyed it, and over the few years since they bought it, it's gotten worse, and worse, and worse. Now it's just a very (very) sad shadow of its former self, with food that's even sadder.
Personally, I think they did it in stages, on purpose, so that nobody would miss the place when they ultimately got rid of it. But if you go (anybody) and get anything remotely edible, and have even a marginally enjoyable visit, please do post about it!
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As a region, Alsace will give you all you want. About as far from the sea as you can get! There are not too many ex-pats. English isn't a problem. Possibly more starred restaurants then any region except for the Paris area.
Right on! I only hesitated to say this earlier because I've been talking up Alsace to death on eG. But's it's a totally hidden-away spot filled to overflowing with charm and wonderfully warm, hospitable people, and ridiculous amounts of sinfully delicious food (the link in my signature will lead you to some pages of photos of fabulous restaurant meals and gastronomic adventures in the region.) But you don't have to limit yourself to parts South of Strasbourg. The north is equally wonderful, just less well known. But I must add, the winters are freezing there!
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I'm with you on all of that. But though I don't know if you had Babbo's Bolognese dish at this meal, I had it with three friends a few months ago, and thought it was simply lousy -not even good enough to call "ordinary". Then I noticed that the three friends dining with me had all left significant portions of theirs uneaten too - and this was the second course in the meal, not a time when food usually goes uneaten. So I'm taking Bolognese ragu not just as a theoretical generations-old dish that could be a masterpiece anytime a chef wanted it to be, I'm taking that as the constant by which I'm judging their approach to their cooking today. In other words, I'm saying that Chef Canora (whose food I have not yet eaten) could very likely take any of the dishes on the Babbo pasta tasting menu and make them as if you were tasting them "for the first time", which is to say, exciting once again. I don't mean to drag us in circles, but the something more that you were missing at the Babbo meal could just have been the care with which they were made; when I had the pasta tasting menu, which I believe we something like doubled in courses, every one of the dishes was pretty much a "toothsome" but lackluster pasta, dressed in a sauce that it was completely disconnected from. So I'm not sure of your use of the term "vision of a talented chef", in that I don't think it's necessarily vision that makes lasagne, or linguine with clams, great (though at the moment, I'm not finding the word I want).
I do admire that you haven't cast aside traditional foods as part of your love of molecular cuisine. I would definitely urge you to seek out those parts of Italy and France where the food is old, old fashioned, and as traditional as can be, yet thrilling and exciting at the same time. I've had dishes as simple as Mozzarella and Tomatoes on the island of Capri where the tomatoes were green and sinfully delicious and the mozzarella just hours old from Sorrento (by ferry), with nothing more than spectacular olive oil and fresh basil, and a sprinkle of salt, that made me think that they hadn't invented enough stars in the guidebooks.
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I found myself a little bit less moved by Babbo than on my previous two visits. The meal was not so much a step off or down as it was evidence of my changing tastes.
Though your tastes may be changing, I'd say that Babbo's standards are definitely slipping. As I wrote upstream (and I must say, I felt a great sense of deja-vu reading your extremely kind post just now), I think the food at Babbo is phoned-in now. I don't think it's your taste.
Culinary excitement doesn't necessarily have to be about re-arraging food molecules in ways that have never been done before, which I say because I know how much you're into this movement, to give just one example. What may be great about a particular molecularly rearranged meal is not the rearrangement of the molecules itself, but the fact that the energy with which they were rearranged in the kitchen tranlates to energy and excitement in the mouth, and on the brain. But this is not to say that old fashioned, or traditional foods should be written off. When you have them prepared by somebody who's making them as if they've just invented them, with all the care and excitiment that have obviously disappeared from the Babbo kitchen, you realize this. There are still villages in Italy where you can eat traditional dishes that convey the same, if not more culinary excitement, than the latest molecule-and-foam meal. A Bolognese sauce made with love and caring can be a mind-expanding experience. The one at Babbo, however, is anything but.
So I don't think that your experience reflects a change in your tastes. I think it reflects boredom and complacency in the Babbo kitchen.
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Yes, sort of, but you can't address it directly, you have to go here, choose "Restaurants", and then choose it from the list:
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Well, the softshells were just too beautiful in the market to pass up:
so I took home a dozen, dredged them in Wondra flour with salt and pepper, and sauteed them with olive oil and butter:
Plated with some heirloom tomatoes marinated with lots of fresh basil and Greek olive oil, it was a very nice combination when the crab mingled with the tomato oil:
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Wow- what great food everybody.
I haven't posted here in about 2 months, because I haven't cooked in that long - I had knee surgery and have been milking it for all it's worth (and after 35 years of cooking dinners, it's been a nice break) - but I've gotten good and sick of take-out food (though not so sick of eating out), and I was finally tempted back into the kitchen by these beauties:
I figured it's now or never. And as we've been flirting with summer here in the NYC area, I thought that maybe I could hurry things along.
So I started my first meal with a bit of prosciutto and melon (the melon was actually sweet)
The market had some beautiful looking heirloom tomatoes, which though they weren't great at first, were superb after an hour marinating with some fresh basil and Greek olive oil:
and I thought that some asparagus were in order
Well, I dredged the softshells in some Wondra flour with salt and pepper, and sauteed them away in some olive oil and butter, and the house smelled with a delicious crab fragrance
I plated it all together, and I must say, the crabs plus the oil from the marinated tomatoes were quite good
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Soft Shells have appeared in the NYC area, and I'm going to make a batch this weekend - any tips or suggestions?
We went to a favorite place in Chinatown (Oriental Garden) and pigged out on several orders of them (they were outstanding):
I would say they were deep fried (which I'm not looking to do myself) - but I'm hoping for tips and suggestions on sauteeing. Simple and crisp is fine with me, too.
Thanks!
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are photos allowed?
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But I am a little curious about the comment markk made about Vito's when he saysmany people use the wording "we left in tears" to describe the experience; but if you go in forewarned and don't pay any attention to it, you can get a magnificent steak
What does that mean exactly?
Having just realized that that's I (you don't have to hit me over the head with a 46 oz. porterhouse), let me explain my comment.
I have been eating at Vito's (and Charley's Steakhouse, same owner) for years and years. They have some pretty terrific steaks, the main difference being that Vito's has the bone-in rib steak, several inches thick, which Charley's does not. (Also, Vito's puts "Italian Seasoning" on many of their steaks, which I think is better left off.) And, they both have the really hot wood fires that make for a delicious steak; I like mine "Pittsburghed", i.e. charred on the outside, and rare inside, which they do extrememly well.
But... the only thing that the servers at Vito's and Charley's care about is UPSELL - and until you have experienced it done in such a crass, shameless and rude fashion, you just can't imagine how it can turn a nice dinner into a horrifying experience. The steaks include a "house salad" which is pretty awful at Vitos, and they may or may not include a potato, I don't remember. But when you order your steak, the waiter asks how you want it cooked. That is the very last question you will hear that does not add money to your bill. At Vito's, the waiter will mention that it's a lousy salad, and then mumble something that sometimes is audible as an offer to "upgrade" you to a nicer salad, though the way it's done never suggests a surcharge. And anything else the waiter offers you carries an unspoken surcharge as well. If you resist them, they'll try to shove them down your throat. It would certainly seem that they are under strict orders to get you to spend a minimum of twice what you were going to, if not more.
I'm immune to it at this point. I just go and enjoy the steak, but they'll get pretty rude and obnoxious about it.
Some years ago I found an Orlando dining site where people were discussing the horrible experiences they'd had at Vito's, sadly, most of them having been special occasion dinners, and at least one couple told of treatment from the server so bad that, as they put it, "we left in tears".
So that's the full story of my comment. But they do make a great steak, and I have sent people there forewarned, and they have enjoyed their steaks and meals.
Have I answered your question?
As a rule, Emeril's restaurants are highly (highly) civilized, and the Florida restaurants are overseen by Chef Bernard (the fellow who Emeril took under his wing at Commander's Palace (oh so many years ago) and taught to cook, and he lends an extremely positive influence on the cooking and the experience. I haven't been to the Orlando location since their renovation, but I'd say that you'll probably get a very enjoyable dining experience there, which as you may have surmised, is a very unusual accomplishment in Orlando.
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When is your friend coming out to Las Vegas, just in case others want to chime in on time?
He arrives May 18, so please chime-away.
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A friend of mine who's going to Las Vegas asks if Picasso is as good as it is said to be, and/or if it has been eclipsed by the newer places. He also asks if there are any not-to-be missed dinner spots, and also, of the high-end Chinese and Shanghai places, are any of them worth it? Thanks all.
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Amazing - or should I say "finally" - well, what I mean to say is that there was a big discussion of canned tomatoes last year or so, and nobody mentioned the Tuscan Tomato - or commented after I posted about it either. Though I had recommended them to a friend (not on eG) who said that he has another friend who will only use them. I'm glad to hear that other people know about them and enjoy them!
I think that all canned tomatoes are just blown away by the precious "Tuscan Tomato", and I say it from taste alone. I first discovered them at Whole Foods. . . .I'm genuinely surprised nobody on eG talks about these!
Ah HA! That's the brand I was talking about.
They were mentioned above in this thread, but only under the company name "bionaturae" which I didn't recognize.
I'm looking forward to trying them again.
I'm another fan of these tomatoes - I use them all the time. They're excellent!
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I'm not able to go in and edit my photo-post at this point, but I had been taking most of my descriptions from their on-line menu, though when I got to the roasted foie gras I realized it was not the same dish we had, and they were kind enough to reply to an e-mail I sent them, to tell me that the description of the dish we had (and photographed) is "Roasted Sullivan County Foie Gras Five Flavor Scented, Fresh Rhubarb and Celery ‘Au Jus’"
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That's where we went before a concert at the Thalia, (the UWS location) and the burgers were huge, and I thought my rare one was pretty good - though I was very disappointed in the fries, which were soggy. Everybody else opted for well done, and they didn't look very good to me, nor did anybody rave about them. But it was a great evening, and the restaurant more than served its purpose. (I had a bacon and swiss burger in fact on the "hard roll", and a b&w milkshake, and thought the combination hit the spot, actually.)
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I second (or third) the idea of a huge quantity of water before you go to bed (or interspersed with your drinks as well) and a hefty B vittamin complex pill (such as a B-50, i.e. 50 mg of most of the b vitamins), though I think a little vitamin C helps as well.
There are drawbacks not only to tylenol with alcohol, but ibuprofen as well, though some of the latter may just be necessary the next morning, in which case you shouldn't have it on an empty stomach.
And for that fuzzy head feeling - try some Niacin, aka Vitamin b-3. Niacin dilates the blood vessels and gives you a serious "flush" feeling over (just the blood vessels near the skin dilating as well), but when the harmless flush goes away, so does a lot of the fuzziness in the head. Hugh doses can be bad for various people, but I'm led to believe that an occasional dose of 50 mg. is not a problem (though I'm one of he many people who take daily doses of "timed-release" niacin for heart health and cholesterol control - you don't get the fluhsed feeling with the timed-release version though.
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I think that all canned tomatoes are just blown away by the precious "Tuscan Tomato", and I say it from taste alone. I first discovered them at Whole Foods.
To quote a bit from their site, "Discover The Precious Tuscan Tomato:
"For centuries, Tuscany was renowned in Italy for the distinctive flavor of its tomatoes. When modern harvesting techniques were introduced in Italy, it became impractical to grow and harvest tomatoes in the region's small, hilly farmland. Therefore, the Tuscan tomato slowly lost commercial fame and the region became known for other products. The bionaturæ® company is based in Tuscany and has finally realized its dream of adding these special tomatoes to their line of organic foods. It was a tremendous undertaking to plant tomatoes on our Tuscan farms. As with all of our products, tremendous care has gone into growing, harvesting and processing these tomatoes. All tomatoes are harvested and sorted by hand."
Of course, you don't eat hyperbole, you eat tomatoes, and I find these to be utterly delicious, from the moment you open the can, through whatever you cook with them. I buy the whole ones, slit them open with my thumb and take out most of the seeds, and let them fall apart in whatever I'm cooking.
I'm genuinely surprised nobody on eG talks about these!
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Wow again - so many choices that would work for me (and which I will surely try when I don't have this group with me up there). I don't know if anybody here was in on my last group adventure closer to Lincoln Center last month when the out-of-town friend came last time, but his choice had been PF Changs in NJ (okay, technically not that close to Lincoln Center) - and this time, he really wants to go to a place called Jackson Hole on Columbus for a hamburger - so if anybody has any horror stories about it, please don't tell them? On the other hand, if it's any good, please do tell.
Thank you all - Regional, Roth's, and Gennaros all sound good to me for the next time I'm up there under different circumstances.
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WOW! A lot of these sound perfect and I am writing them up to forward to the members of my party - - one of whom suggested that we consider a place called Celeste at Amsterdam and 84th (and cab up after dinner) - does anybody have any experience or thoughts on Celeste?
(Yes, it was Alouette that we went to last year, and don't want to return to.)
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I'm looking for somewhere good to eat within a few minutes of Broadway and 96th Street, and I'm not at all current with what's around there. Nothing too exotic for my group (please) and I don't imagine that "fine dining" is an option, but can anybody suggest some comfortable places with good food? I tried a French bistro right around there last year but was singularly unimpressed (east side of Bway just above 96th I think). Anybody? THANKS.
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No. We had certainly indicated a willingness to pay extra to have what we wanted, however it worked out, but it turned out that by working with the Spring Tasting Menu it wasn't necessary - quite surprisingly, too.
There were some other dishes we'd like to have tried, but that'll have to be next time. We were afraid to push our luck, and at the same time there were some dishes on the menu we did not want to give up, too.
The nice part was how willing they were to create exactly the meal we felt like eating.
Edited for more detail.
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We ate in The Dining Room late-ish on Tuesday (after having seen former American Idol star Anthony Federov make his (off) Broadway debut in The Fantasticks (most enjoyable).
With apologies because the photos are all "available light", I have to say that this was one of the best meals I think I've ever eaten. And I'd have to agree with Oakapple's comment somewhere above - I think this meal was actually all-around better than the two we recently had at Jean Georges (and, considering that that meal included a large portion of sweetbreads under a mountain of shaved truffles, I think that's really saying something for Gabriel Kreuther).
Our captain (Jason) couldn't possibly have been any nicer or more knowledgeable about the food and wines, and he was as enthusiastic as could be about helping us to customize a meal - we were in the mood for an extravaganza, but some of the dishes on the 3-course dinner were calling to us more than some on the tasting menus, so with his magnificent help, we settled on the Spring Tasting Menu as a base, with probably more dishes substituted than not.
It was a meal of sheer culinary excitement, and the way it was executed without pomp or ceremony, but rather a casual parade of, well, unabashed gluttony, was completely reminiscent of dining in Alsace, which we do a lot.
The meal began with a procession of goodies to amuse the senses, though all I remember is the foie gras bauble in the center:
The next teaser was a very delicious bit of seared Mackeral that was not photographable in the available light, but as soon as we realized this, our Captain was kind enough to bring a second candle to the table.
We began the menu proper with "White Asparagus from Provence in an Herbed Merlot Mousseline":
It was a "curry" foam, not to my liking, but the Merlot Mousseline was a magnificent accompaniment to the asparagus, and from that plate on there was nothing but sheer culinary triumph that just kept building and building.
Next came "King Crab with Morel Mushroom and Spring Garlic, finished with fresh baby leeks", a masterpiece:
Followed by "Seared Diver Scallop and Red Mullet with Celeriac-Truffle Sauce", for which I am already out of adjectives:
(The play of flavors and acidity in this dish was simply thrilling!)
Next came one of the single best, and most exciting (I know I must stop saying that) dishes I have ever eaten, "Sweetbread, Rock Shrimp and Scallion Potato “Gâteau” with Banyuls Vinaigrette":
A more masterful combination of flavors and textures can't be imagined or executed more perfectly; by the time we thought to photograph the inside, it was in no condition to be photographed.
And that was followed by "Sautéed Sullivan County Foie Gras", in a preparation with fresh Rhubarb that again was thrilling:
The photo would have benefitted from a brushing aside of the micro-greens, because there was a thick and expertly roasted slab of foie gras under there!
And then (astoundingly, more food really came), the "Squab and Foie Gras “Croustillant” with Caramelized Ginger Jus and Farm Vegetables", which was astounding:
The wines that accompanied this feast were utterly delicious - an Alsace Pinot Blanc, a Chassagne-Montrachet, and an Alsace Pinot Noir (a wine usually devoid of fruit, but as our Captain promised, full of fruit and a delicious match with the last two courses):
There was a large and over-the-top procession of some supremely good desserts.
I'd have to say that this is one of the best meals I've ever eaten, period.
edited for spelling
All About Skirt Steak - Recipes, uses, etc.
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I think you lose out on a lot of the delicious flavor of that cut when you do all those things to it. I just treat it like a (great) steak and broil or grill it. If the cut is ungainly for you to cook, one of the things you can do is roll it up fairly tightly, then cut it into half-inch slices - but put wooden skewers through the roll before you cut it. In the old days, these were called "pinwheels" and were very popular. They come out with uniform thickness that way and are easier to grill. They're great charred on the outside and to my taste, nice and rare inside. A little salt, and you have a very delicious steak with a meaty flavor all its own.