mjr_inthegardens

If I drink a sidecar out of a martini glass does that make it a sidecartini?

We had dinner again (party of 3 this time) the other night but sat at a table instead of at the bar. I felt like the quality of the construction of the pieces and rolls went DOWNHILL vs sitting at the bar. Either that or it was an off night for the rice maker as this stuff was falling apart in a way that it should not. I HATE losing rice when I pick up sushi and I hate pieces of a roll sticking to each other because they have not been completely separated by the knife. Fish was still all delicious but for value and quality I am sitting at the bar next time. -MJR

You'll be able to answer that yourself when the $18 soap dispenser gunks up and no longer dispenses. Having said that, I've had $45 Grohe Dispensers do the same thing, but the cheaper ones seem to be more likely to fail. A. ← It seems solidly constructed... I imagine I will have to clean it now and again. With my dishwasher hopefully I won't be handwashing much except my knives ;)

Electric is finished by the way -- beer fridge is on, island is electrified. Just need to get some better looking outlet covers now.

Minor kitchen update: The soffits are all constructed. They look good and the plaster guy has finished them. They really do add a dimension to the room by establishing the limits of the kitchen. Now the bad news: My contractor decided (without calling me) to drop the exhaust pipes down a few inches and out the window rather than punch through the wall. There were good reasons for this which I more or less agree with, but fer chrise sakes, why not call us to tell us? Result: He sheet rocked down the face of the window about 6 inches so that you cannot tell at first glance or for some people without being told that the sheet rock is blocking the window. Apparently this is the solution used in many manhattan apts floors up where exterior wall venting is a real no-no. We did not have fantastic light in this room to begin with and now have even less. If we hang blinds from the outside of the window instead of within the frame I am hoping that the end result will be the same because the blind tops won't block the window. Perhaps next year after I gauge condo board politics I will see if I think we can change it to go out through the cinder block and brick exterior wall. This is what comes from owning a apt instead of a house. Further frustrations: The granite is installed and it is f*cking gorgeous. I will post some pics later on. I need the granite installer to come back and add another hole for the sink however. We had originally 2 holes drilled (pullout faucet and soap disp). Now realize we want a center hole drilled for faucet placement and the pullout Hamat faucet we bought is faulty and must be returned. We have purchased an all metal kohler faucet with sidespray instead. We have decided that for our needs a sidespray is better than a pullout. Sidebar: we bought a noname stainless steel soapdispenser for $18 from Home Depot. The brand ones are 40-50 minimum -- why??? Remaining kitchen tasks for contractor: 1) Remove Damper from Above Range microwave fan. WHY DO THEY MAKE THESE OUT OF ******* TIN? WHEN YOU TURN THE FAN ON THE DAMPER RATTLES LIKE TIN CANS OFF THE BACK OF A STUDEBAKER!!! IDIOTIC ENGINEERING. Our Mwave is 10 ft and a 90 degree downward angle from the wall exit so I am not really worried about a draft coming back in. 2) Put finish trim on bottom wall cabs. this will give a nice finish to the cabs and additionally conceal the undercab lighting. 3) Install Hardware --- we bought aquabrass online and are very happy with the hardware so far. Nice satin nickel <a href="http://www.aquabrass.com/data/products/image/PRO5D290ED1D480403BB5A5EE49C26671F6.jpg" target="_blank">pulls</a> and HEAVY beautiful stainless steel <a href="http://www.aquabrass.com/data/products/image/PRO937166EFCF4B4E179C3379D823DC1412.jpg" target="_blank">knobs</a> from Aquabrass. Should look great. We need this stuff to get finished already so we can clean up, put EVERYTHING away, and settle down for a while. cheers -MJR

Natto and Durian shishkabobs?

This must be a subtle form of revenge for the "WaPo food section heading downhill thread"

question: has anyone ever made Tonic ice cubes? does this help improve a good GnT. I am not sure melting regular ice lends any improvement to this cocktail.

This earlier thread was very useful to me in seeking similar wisdom: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=48245 and also I found help in picking a partner tonic http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=11526

I had dinner at kittichai about 2 weeks ago. Very nice if a little dear. I had crispy duck dish (not on the menupages menu). I would avoid the chocolate ribs appetizer -- too much sweetness, not enough savory reward. The lollipop chicken was excellent. My three "mini-creme brulee" dessert was divine -- the ginger infused brulee was my fave. As far as the decor -- very nice -- lots of nicely lit raw silk panels and dark wood. -MJR

I saw this site linked from Curbed and thought many of us would enjoy some artistic shots of NY restaurants: http://www.noahkalina.com/interiors/about.html cheers -MJR

Why not just list the # of locations and a geographic radius instead of the street locations of each one then

Review link Andrea Strong reviews Danny Meyer's The Modern http://www.andreastrong.com/belly/belly_vi...hp?belly_id=132

Crooked Tree is decent, not sublime I agree. I was in Nice in 99 probably. I have clear happy memories of beautiful sunshine beaming down on cobblestone streets and of large fluffy crepes filled with divers fillings washed down with cold lager or cappuccino. Cheers -MJR

Why soffits? Why not cupboard space right up to the top of the ceiling? So, you need a stepstool to get to the stuff, even if you're tall. That's valuable space that's wasted on air! I really don't understand soffits unless they are there to hide something. ← Actually there will be 2 soffits and there are good reasons for both. Basically our apartment is a concrete box. It has a fresh air chase going up from the bathrooms (which we are not supposed to vent into). I want to vent the a) bathrooms b) dryer I am putting in the .5 bath and c) the kitchen, all to the backyard. I cannot do this (I figure) without the construction of soffits as the ceilings and floors are concrete and I cannot go up into them. Therefore soffit #1 will run around the top of the kitchen cabs from the bathrooms with an exhaust vent pipe for the dryer and the bathrooms and then meet up with a separate tubing for the above range microwave oven vent. The two tubes will then go through the DR in a 6" tall by 8" wide soffit out the wall to the yard. Soffit #2 is for the kitchen island lighting, as my contractor thinks it unwise to try to install more lighting in the concrete ceiling. This soffit will bracket the kitchen on the ceiling and lights will be hung or installed in the soffit (depending if we do pendants or recessed) for the island illumination. Hence the soffitry. The cabinets see very tall already-- we will need to get a step stool. I am 5' 6" and my gf is 5' 2". cheers -MJR

Wait until the countertops are in ... get tile samples and look at them bext to the countertops. No hurry here as it sounds like there's some electrical work that needs doing and the walls may need to be opened up a little. The backsplash can cover up some nasty drywall patches winesonoma ... I sometimes have the electrical work done after the fact if it means a better schedule. Depends on the work needed to be done. Of course, the preference is to have all the rough-in work done first. mrj, just make sure you have the base cabinets covered up while the work is being done. I'd hate to see those cabinets get dinged up. A. ← Thanks for the advice about backsplash. We are definitely going to do one, just need to figure out what. My contractor will be cardboarding over the base cabinets before any additional work is done to protect them. A comment about my cabinets for everyone: Overall, I am satisfied, but not totally impressed with the kraftmaid cabinets. The finish is imperfect in many places in ways that would not be hard to have fixed by a competent finisher. Also my cabs gained numerous scratches in shipment. I think next time I have to buy cabs I may try to go with a local provider instead of a name like kraftmaid in order to avoid this carelessness. I intend to let kraftmaid know about this too. Overall I think they look great in the space and my drawers kick ass. Arne, can you give any advice on what you think would be a better solution for lighting the island from the 6" approx soffit that will be framed around the kitchen on the ceiling? Spots or pendants? I have been looking at lighting sites on the web and am going to the Bowery/Chinatown lighting district on Saturday. My dad thinks spots would be better because they would be less obtrusive and my contractor thinks pendants. I think pendants would divide the space a little more, which might be something I want aesthetically. But maybe my dad has a point. Would they get in the way of people standing and socializing around the island? Thanks much -MJR

Had dinner here at the bar a few saturdays ago. $25/pp requested Sushi Omakase. Our spoils: sliced Monkfish Liver app-delicious then each (all sushi): 1 Toro (tuna belly) 1 Maguro (tuna) 2 Sake (salmon) 2 Hamachi (yellowtail) 2 Unagi (eel) 1 fresh crab (seaweed wrapped) 1 Uni (urchin) 1 Tako (octopus) 1/2 roll Spicy Tempura Shrimp 1/2 roll Spicy Tuna The pieces were appropriately/traditionally sized. I don't like big pieces some places serve (Osaka, Yama). With 11 sushi pieces each, shared rolls, appetizer we were sated and at a good price. For a quicker dinner anothertime I would think about the $30/sushi for 2. The tako was FANTASTIC -- not rubbery at all, luscious. The 2 chefs were enthusiastic and our chef's eyes lit up when we requested Uni (my first time, not sure I am a new disciple). About 1/2 of the 8 seat bar was occupied by Japanese speakers, who seemed to be enjoying their meals also. I will be back for sure. They state on the menu that they fly their fish in from a sushi market in Japan, and that they are the NYC outpost of a Tokyo restaurant. edit: also, we had sushi delivery from Taro. We had the sushi for 2 and 2 miso soups. The sushi seemed as fresh for delivery as I have had and the $30 meal was plenty for 2 persons. The guy got a little lost delivering it though!! edit 2: also, my girlfriend reminds me to tell you that they offer FRESH wasabi (in restaurant not delivery). So good. -MJR

My top two favorite historical (my history) crepe places are 1) Crepe place in the open square in Vieux Nice, France -- incredible savory crepes 2) Crepe restaurant in Covent Garden, London We had some decent crepes the other day in the East Village, NYC at a place called the Crooked Tree Cafe, egg on top the whole 9. -MJR

As a contractor, myself, you seem to be way late on the electric. He should have been one of the first. ← My contractor is his brother and we've talked about what is needed. It's really not too too much in the way of electric and I trust them so we'll see how it goes.

To do: - Lighting purchases - Backsplash Tiles (I really have no idea) - Get fridge ventilation wooden panel for above fridge cabinet from HD (stain, install) - Pickup mini-fridge from etronics.com (on the Lower East Side, baby!!) - Electric (electrician coming to look at place tomorrow, estimate then) - Granite install - monday - Cabinet finish work, minor repairs etc. - Soffit construction - Crown molding and cabinet bottom finishing -mjr

All the cabinets have been installed. The trim work has not been completed yet and none of the electric has been done. The granite should be arriving for installation on Monday. They measured this Monday. Some new pictures: -MJR

We will have 29"+ room on the one counter next to our corner sink, as our contactor brought out the plumbing 3" in front of the wall / existing plumbing in order to run all the necessaries. I will take extensive pictures of the corner sink to show you how it ends up working. Countertop guys should be here this monday to measure.

You should have seen the cabinets up close and the side next to the old range!!! Touching it reactivated the grease!!! Dirty bastards!!

Some pictures to give you a sense of where we started and where we are getting to. BEFORE: <img src="http://forums.egullet.org/uploads/1111717297/gallery_12579_385_25757.jpg"> The kitchen as it was. Old shitty cabinets -- "builder's grade" as they say. Popcorn ceilings with 20 years of crud. <img src="http://forums.egullet.org/uploads/1111773598/gallery_12579_385_1732.jpg"> Ceiling ceiling fan (!?!?) + kitchen grease + popcorn ceiling = blech <img src="http://forums.egullet.org/uploads/1111717297/gallery_12579_385_18942.jpg"> Washer in the kitchen, on right and left walls that I took down (with my friend keith). <img src="http://forums.egullet.org/uploads/1111717297/gallery_12579_385_2410.jpg"> Dining Room - Kitchen shot before. Note the level of ABSOLUTE FILTH. These people didn't clean for 20 years I swear. RENOVATION: <img src="http://forums.egullet.org/uploads/1111717297/gallery_12579_385_3870.jpg"> $2500 --- all popcorn ceilings in entire apartment skim plastered over Flat Clean Ceilings -- Priceless <img src="http://forums.egullet.org/uploads/1111717297/gallery_12579_385_4478.jpg"> Cabinets in a big pile. Don't worry, chandelier will come down and be chucked eventually. <img src="http://forums.egullet.org/uploads/1111773598/gallery_12579_385_29838.jpg"> My gf's brother in law and our contractor with newly installed sink base in corner. <img src="http://forums.egullet.org/uploads/1111773598/gallery_12579_385_6282.jpg"> "extreme" sink base closeup ;) Can see the floor tile too. <img src="http://forums.egullet.org/uploads/1111773598/gallery_12579_385_28096.jpg"> Ready for installation of wall cabinets. Note the wall is gone from before pics. <img src="http://forums.egullet.org/uploads/1111773598/gallery_12579_385_19289.jpg"> My new dishwasher and flanking cabs. Sorry about the cardboard. So it is coming together. I will post more pics as it is finished. My camera is out of batteries right now anyway! -MJR

"Mikey, is he cute? Is he brown? Would he like to join us for a cocktail? Is he polite? Is he clean? Have him take off his shoes. Don't let him go!" /swingers