viaChgo

Sorry if this has already been posted... Has anyone eaten here yet? Robuchon retired before I had the chance to eat at Jamin. I was wondering how L'Atelier Joel Robuchon compares? EDIT: Prior Thread Merged with better title

The comments from Jason & Mike Colameco shed a lot of light to this topic. I've found that most Korean restaurants are just not as accessible to most non-Koreans & makes it more difficult for the cuisine to become popular. The menus are long with often unclear descriptions & waitstaff who can't clearly articulate them. I believe though that there is a trend happening now where Korean cuisine is being made accessible to non-Koreans without compromising the tradition of the cuisine. In Chicago, there are a couple of restaurants that have opened recently that exhibit this...a Western style menu, broken up into appetizer/salad/soup/main, etc., contemporary decor, an well-trained English-speaking staff, and even fancy Soju-tini drinks. There's Soju, Koryo, and Jin Ju, which is the only one that I've been to. I think they do a great job of bringing Korean cuisine to the masses and have been pretty successful thus far.

When I was a kid, growing up in Chicago, there was this pizza place we used to go to from time to time that was owned by Koreans. They made a kimchee pizza. It was basically a regular thin-crust pizza with kimchee under the cheese. I remember it being good when I was a kid. I don't remember what the place was called, where it was, or any details that would be helpful in this situation. I don't think it's around anymore.

I'm not so sure how well the texture would work either. Usually, ravioli fillings are are very soft. So you would't really be able to cut through a mussel-filled ravioli very well with a fork. I guess you would have to chuck the whole ravioli in your mouth. I think the mussels would work better with another type of pasta...linguini, tagliatelle w/mussels, etc.

My homemade chips didn't keep for more than a day or two. Try drizzling a little truffle oil on the freshly fried chips & then grating Parm-Reggiano over them plus a little sprinkle of salt of course. Decadent. A great hors d'oeuvres.

Harold's. The mild sauce sometimes varies from location to location but I think the hot sauce is pretty consistent. I ususally get hot sauce, salt & pepper w/extra hot sauce on the side. I like to take the white bread & roll a couple of sauce-laden french fries & make myself a french fry sandwich. mmmm good.

Thanks Andrew for trying that method out! I read about that in The Man Who Ate Everything & have been wanting to try that method out. Glad to know you got good results. I'm going to try it out. I wonder if it would work as well for sweet potatos as well?

You can also use it to make a kim chee stew (aka kimchee chigae). Pork belly makes a really delicous version of this great home-style Korean dish. Brown the pork belly pieces in a pot/dutch oven til brown. Add sliced onions, kim chee (a great way to make use of 'older' kim chee), water to cover, bring to a boil, & simmer for about 45 minutes. You can also add mung bean sprouts, and firm tofu. Adjust seasoning as necessary. Eat with steamed rice.

Hi all, Was in town this past weekend from Chicago & had dinner at Mendocino with my wife & a few local friends and had a very tasty meal and pleasant experience there. I really like the space...it feels cozy but not confined, contemporary but not uncomfortably so. I started with the braised octopus with lentil-fennel salad. The octopus was nice & tender and the accompaniment of the fennel salad was a nice contrast in both flavors & textures...a very nice dish. For my main, I had the rioja-braised lamb shank with sweet potato & pear puree, rapini, & beer battered onions. This dish was right up my alley and was executed perfectly. It was down home comfort elevated to a level that kept the dish interesting as well as comforting. The meat was flavorful & fall-off-the-bone. the puree was soothing in its sweetness while the rapini was a great contrast to the puree with its crispness & bitterness. And who doesn't like onion rings? All in all, everything was nicely seasoned & well executed. The menu looked wonderful and they seem to be doing things right...fresh, seasonal products; organic meats; artisanal cheeses. We were too full but we really wanted to do a cheese course...next time I guess.

The reason for simmering them comes from the days of the 'brat frys' when large amounts of brats were grilled & needed to be kept warm. They would keep them in simmering beer to stay warm & it wasn't a bad flavor addition either. I've cooked them in beer first, then grilled them & had good results. But traditionally, as those in Sheboygan do it, you're supposed to grill them on medium/medium low fire so they don't split & simmer them in beer if you like, but it's not necessary. Then you take 2 brats & put them on a 'hard roll' with a little ketchup, mustard, onions & pickle and dig in! And the fresh wurst is always better than the pre-cooked.

Your 2 month old kimchee is probably ok to eat but the flavors will be off & sour. I would give it a couple of weeks & then use it for cooked dishes (i.e. kimchee chigae). I can never get through a large jar before it goes 'bad' so I buy the small jars. I like the daikon as well as the chive kimchee.