Bicycle Lee

Best meal I had in Vegas was at Picasso. Service was incredible and food was as well. Cut was also a good dining experience if you like steakhouses. I REALLY want to eat at Twist though.

But I don't have reservations! Haha. I'm coming in a couple weeks and although I would love to experience it, didn't even know I was coming two months to the calendar date of my trip haha.

I know it sounds low-brow, but I love making my own version of sloppy joe's... which I lovingly refer to as Disheveled Joseph's 5# beef trim, sinew removed but not fat, ground up. 2 medium yellow onions diced finely. 5 stalks of celery also finely diced sweat onion and celery first, then add the meat and cook through, season thoroughly. meanwhile, put 3 C ketchup 1 C cider or red wine vinegar .25 C molasses 3 cloves garlic .5 C Frank's hot sauce .25 C brown sugar 1 Tb worcestershire sauce 1 Tb ground mustard seed all in the vitaprep and puree til totally smooth drain any excess fat off the meat and add your sauce. cook till most of the excess liquid is gone and the meat is glossy and sticky. I like mine with blue cheese on top. don't judge me HAHAHA

so, SethD... what, out of your last week's meals, ranked the highest?

Well, you mentioned Moab... To be perfectly blunt I'd rather heat up a can of beans in a campfire than eat in Moab. Hell's Backbone Grill in Boulder has a wonderful food philosophy that, unfortunately, shines much brighter than their fare... Cafe Diablo just outside of Torrey is rumored to have good food, but their menu has never impressed me. Amangiri which is located near Big Water has a wonderful menu and kitchen (I staged there and was lucky enough to eat). Parallel 88 in Springdale has a terrifically uninspired menu which doesn't even showcase any of the ingredients that are available just down the street. St George offers nothing more than national/global chains. Besides that I can't think of any restaurants in any rural towns that are of merit. edit: I forgot to mention Communal in Provo. My friend Colton (who also opened Pizzeria 712) opened it last year and it has a really nice, accessible and well prepared menu. Also, the Tree Room at Sundance is supposed to be good, but I heard it has gone downhill. Pago in SLC is overhyped, overseasoned and ran by people more concerned with how they look on their fixed gear bikes than providing good service. Vinto is actually a very nice restaurant in SLC. Inexpensive, unpretentious and fresh flavors. Spruce (which is no longer affiliated with the California original) needs a little while to get back on their feet and head in the right direction, but Adam Findlay is a talented chef who I hope can do it. If I think of anything else I'll post.

Thanks... I was actually looking into Ciano as well... thought it might be tough to get a table since it'll be it's second week of service.... I'll try tho. I also heard from my old chef that Ssam Bar was really good. Someone also recommended 11th Madison Park....

Ok... that's a shame... I am looking into Blue Hill, Lincoln, Il Matto, Gramercy Tavern, Balthazar, Prune, Momofuku Ko.... Italian must be "hot" right now.... Any other recommendations?

Here's the skinny on Utah: Red Iguana has the best sit down mexican food experience. Tacos El Paisa has the best street taco in town. Takashi is the best sushi, best japanese and, dare I say, best restaurant in town. Mazza does good middle eastern food. Hong Phat has an amazing and cheap (2.50) banh mi Forage does metropolitan dining, beautiful and inspired tasting menus. Pizzeria 712 in Orem has a great wood-fired pizza. Settebello does a good Napolitano in downtown SLC. Lucky 13 has a great burger. Caputo's has a great Italian sandwich Moochie's does a meatball and a philly you wouldn't believe if I told you. The Paris does French bistro food decently well. Maxwell's up in Park City does a good New York pizza.... I'll post more if I remember any of my other favorites.

Say it ain't so!! Is this true?

I am heading to New York in a couple weeks and really wanted to try Cru, but I'm having trouble figuring out how to make a reservation or even to find out if the restaurant is still open. My mother dined there not too long ago and I know they were making a lot of changes, but I have seen on the web that it is closed. Can someone give me some clarification here? Their website is "under construction" and opentable lists it as closed. Their voice mail still works, but points you to opentable to make reservations.... HELP!

so I'm headed up to Seattle this week for my brother's birthday and he said he wants some good Korean BBQ so I figured I'd ask my old gastronaut buddies on egullet for some recommendations.... thanks!!!

so it's been nearly four years since I began this thread and I just wanted to share one of my favorite marshmallow recipes that I have worked with for a couple years...it's fluffy and delicious 1 C egg whites (roughly 8 whites) 1/2 C sugar put this in the mixer and whip to STIFF peaks... 2 C sugar 1/2 C water 1 Tbs Karo syrup (light; to prevent crystallization) heat this up to soft ball and drizzle the hot syrup into the whites as you whip them on high (I shouldn't have to say "be careful" but.... BE CAREFUL) you can substitute vanilla sugar and or make vanilla syrup for this. whip for at least 5 minutes... usually about 7 or 8. enjoy...

A breath of great news this holiday season. I wish Chef Achatz and his family the best.

I work on my motorcycle, in my garden...always clean house, do laundry. Go out to eat. Haha Today I got to drive out into the desert and shoot my gun. Nice release.

so I was given a giant box of beautiful concord grapes and I'm wondering what to do with them. I was thinking jelly...anybody have a surefire recipe?

As a cook, when we were gearing up to get bent over some nights the best amuse bouche would be a shooter of soup....thick, thin, chilled, hot....it was all the same (as long as the dish pit could keep up with the action). I think the best thing to do is make it more dynamic. Soup, a flavored oil, micro green, chiffonade, powders...blah blah blah... I second the idea of it being best as an amuse. I personally like several sips of soup when actually ordering soup. But a staged amuse works great.

exactly...I know they're rare because we're getting them as fodder from the baby lamb saddles, a product we're selling to a top restaurant who is the only restaurant in the country receiving this item. The lambs are slaughtered at no more than 50 pounds...we saw some as small as 40.

Anyone ever cooked with baby lamb kidneys? Other than kidney pie, what do you recommend? What flavors pair well besides brandy, cognac, vermouth and wine? I work for a distributor of specialty meats and game and we have a nine pound bag to sell and I want to know how I should sell it to chefs. We also have bone-in lamb legs, so I might try and sell both together and suggest a two-way...

thanks...that thread helps a lot... I meet with him today, so we'll see what he says. I'll let you guys know. The bottom line is: it'll take me a lot to uproot. I own a home here which I wouldn't sell for this position..and I also am pretty close to having my own business idea take flight. The reason why I would take this job is that it is something I've always wanted to do...the style of food is enticing, the position is enticing...etc... thanks for everyone's comments

do you think it would be uncouth to ask what he makes, what his pastry chef makes...etc? and base what I think is fair for me from those figures? I hear ya on the cut of the pie thing...or a chunk of the company...something along those lines....

So a friend I worked with here in SLC moved out to St Louis last year and opened a restaurant...they were so successful that he's already going to open another location and he wants me to run it...m y position would officially be called executive sous chef but I would be in control of the kitchen, menu, and I gather I would do hire/fire and work closely with FOH management as well. He's coming out to chat this Sunday and I just wanted to see what people here thought...perhaps someone might know what market value of this position should be... I asked my brother what he thought and he said besides actual salary I should ask for moving expenses and the first 3 months of living expenses to be paid for...he said this is standard for having someone uproot for a job... thanks in advance for any reply...

A buddy of mine opened a restaurant in St Louis last year and I've heard they've gotten great reviews. I think it's in Benton(?) it's called Niche. Anyone checked them out yet?

alright then....I'm making reservations for my mom's birthday in October....word.

Does anyone know anything about these service pieces being changed out? Seems kind of odd to me. I know the prosciutto dish was a prototype, but that's a huge 180 in the feel to have it served on a napkin (I'm assuming it was planked like the other bread dish). What was the cinnamon dish served in? I was told they stopped using it because it ended up being TOO smoky...The dish was served on a nice rectangular plate with a small lidded dish in the corner that was opened to reveal the smoking cinnamon, salt, and ground cinnamon. I was effective, but I too was disappointed to not see the glass peice.

are you positive? or are you just saying that?