VeryApe77

I really enjoy the HH at Biwa - you have to sit at the Bar to get the HH menu, but it's available at all times, which is nice. I prefer to sit at the bar there anyway... Along with Pok Pok/WSL, probably my favourite restaurant in Portland at the moment...

I forget how I was introduced to it, but I'm a big fan of the Dos Hermanos blog. I don't know anything about the bloke(s?) who write it, but it's funny and - as a Londoner living abroad - gives a great feel for the dining scene in London at the moment.

Others may want to chime in here, but I'd say the dish most closely associated with Kahan is his braised pork belly.

Very interesting. I've no reason to doubt you -- and things do tend to change very rapidly in the restaurant world. I guess we'll just have to wait and see unless someone else has some credible info to add. That Pump Room news is completely new to me but again, nothing would surprise me and it would hardly be a shock. I think my parents took me there for my graduation dinner from junior high. That was in 1977 and I think it was past its prime then. =R= ← Last time I heard, Tramonto was acting as consultant at the new Pump Room (it's changing owners) but wasn't moving on from Tru. Maybe things have changed, who knows? Article here

Any idea when you will be able to get this in the USA?

Ronnie, the Adria sighting must have been pretty exciting! I read (in the Time Out Chicago article about Madrid Fusion) that he was heading to Chicago in March, but I wasn't sure if it was 100% on. Apart from Alinea and Moto, I wonder which other spots he is hitting?

It's the gas bladder (also called the swim bladder) of the fish - no idea what type of fish is normally used though! There is a Thai restaurant here in Chicago that has a Fish Maw salad on the Thai menu that is one of the best things I have ever tasted!

I believe you're thinking of "Egg Raid on Mojo". I have this one on CD, but it's at home. It's about this doorman at a club who would never let them in. I think the title says the rest... ← They had a song called Egg Man too. It can be found on Paul's Boutique - it's the song that samples 'Superfly'. It's about throwing eggs at people, a recurring theme in their work.

I'm sure it's been mentioned before, but in his "real" job (as opposed to his TV job) Gordy has mentored quite a few female chefs (Angela Hartnett being the obvious example) and has said in interviews that he is always glad to see women working as professional chefs. His comments obviously weren't aimed at chefs, but at young home cooks. I'm not standing up for the guys comment, but he obviously doesn't have a problem with female chefs.

Has this been posted here yet - I didn't see it. Chicago City Panel back Foie ban

Interview with Emeril from today's 'Day to Day' NPR here - http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4965420 He mainly talks about his new book, but touches on some of the stuff he has being doing since Katrina hit. Doesn't really go into very much detail though. He certainly doesn't answer any of the questions raised in the thead, or in the Times-Picayune articles (not that he is asked the questions in the first place.)

It's in this months (or was it last months?) issue of Gourmet. The one with Emeril on the front cover.

I don't really understand this Bourdain comparison. Bourdain surely never won anyone over because it turned out he could cook. He won people over because it turned out that he was a very good writer (with a good ear for kitchen patois) and he had a very likable sense of humor and self-depreciation (none of these things applies to Psaltis). He also was never claiming to be a world-class chef and basically dropped out of being a full-time chef to become a writer/media figure, whereas Psaltis is obviously still doing the chef thing (or hoping to). I don't see how the two situations match up at all. Psaltis may well end up a great chef (I haven't eaten his food, although I have heard very dreary things about Country thus far), but I don't think anyone is going to change their mind about the book...we'll see about the chef thing.

But this goes back to the question "is all publicity good publicity?" A LOT of the afore-mentioned 400 posts have been beating DP up, calling his integrity into question and, now, suggesting that he isn't actually a very good chef. And now his restaurant is open, I get the impression that people are lining up to bash that too. But maybe thats what he was hoping would happen?

I think it's quite possible to enjoy Rakoff's piece (and yes, I have read it) and also appricate and understand Alice Water's work. Being able to laugh at yourself is not a bad thing, in my opinion. However, I thought the PBS 'American Masters' show about Alice Waters was about 10 times as funny as Rakkof's piece (the bit with Peter Sellar's and the two tomatoes was one of the funniest things I have seen this year).