Franky2Times

This website has been around for a few months, as far as I know, and certainly fills a need for disgruntled restaurant workers. As you browse through the posts though, you realize most people complaining about the "horrible" working conditions are FOH, servers, hosts or managers. I still have to read a realistic story coming from a kitchen employee or a Chef. The FOH in any given restaurant, whether in NY or anywhere else, is often treated as leeches or vermins living off the hard work of the kitchen, making way more money while the customers praise is often on the food rather than the service. While you will find mostly professionals in the kitchen, even dishwashers, most waiters and managers are working to make a quick buck and go back to whatever their primary interest is. I believe a lot of restaurant owners come from kitchens, have been trained since they were really young and are used to being treated like worms (e.g. Burke, Hanson, Page and a lot of guys mentioned as the worst). They yell because they were yelled at by abusive managers and chefs. In a way, it's an accepted lifestyle... Servers are quick to complain about not making $200 a day (this is an actual post) on their first week at work and being fed pasta for family meal. They have no clue the pastry chef is making $350 a week and does not have time to eat: they don't care and they don't talk about it. Meanwhile, that pastry chef, if smart and talented, will eventually make a good living out of the profession while the disgruntled waiter will go back to art school without ever having had a clue about the food business. I am not a restaurant owner and I do respect and understand the stress of the FOH but PLEASE stop whining.

Remember to tip the Chef.... I've worked the past 10 Christmas Eves, Christmas Days, New Year's, etc. It always sucks. Always incredibly busy with drunk patrons ordering stuff like well done whatever, usually salmon, with truffled french fries or anything that you DO NOT have on the menu. Then they get angry because you can't do it and order more drinks which is good for the waiters and the restaurant. Meanwhile, in the kitchen, 3 cooks didn't show up for work. You're by yourself with a garde-manger and a prep guy with 425 reservations. URRRGGGHHHH, I HATE Christmas.

Been mentionned before but I think homemade Chipotle Mayo comes in handy just about every day... and it will keep for weeks. You could also mix it with softened butter and freeze it for your next BBQ. If you only want to use a little at a time, I would suggest buying the dry kind and puree it yourself; the cost would be about a quarter!

My mom's mom was from France and my dad's mom, french canadian. Thanksgiving was in early october in Canada so we would have blueberry pies, raspberry pies and "sugar" pies, which was a smooth caramel-like filling made out of maple syrup. Never even heard of a sweet potato pie until I moved to this country. But I love it now.

Wasn't Columbus trying to get to India to get some spices??? Maybe the Europeans heard something about indian cooking a long time ago. By accident, they "discovered" the virtues of the tomato, corn , chile and a whole new world of cuisine in the Americas. A little before that, Marco Polo brought back the whole pasta concept from China. Apart from the French, nobody in Europe can have a claim on any culinary development. Imagination, yes, but if you're talking about the world's greatest cuisines, I would have to go with the French first for technique, India for complexity, China for both complexity and imagination and the native americans, north and south, for inspiring and influencing the rest of the world.

Only Americans would give Ketchup a bad name; it's the best thing with fries. About that awful brown gravy and cheese curds they call poutine??? Yaaaccckkk. Malt Vinegar; Fines Herbes; Dijon; Tarragon Mustard; any type of hot sauce, especially Cholula; DeJardine's Jalapeno Mayo but mainly, lots of Kosher Salt and black pepper.

Not much of an ambiance since it's located in a mall but service and food were very, very good. Without a doubt the freshest sushi I had in or around Montclair and some of the tastiest rolls I ever had, period. Hope they make a lot of money and move in a nicer place. What is so wrong with hibachi??? I had great late night meals in the East Village at hibachi places.

France, of course, mainly the southwestern area around the Perigueux with the truffles, confits, cheeses and whatnot. What about western Mexico, Jalisco and Nayarit, the garden states or Oaxaca, the land of a thousand chiles. After all, this is where tomatoes, potatoes, cocoa, chiles and lots of other goodies were "discovered". If you give me the produce or the seafood PLUS the spices and chiles from these regions, I would be very happy for the rest of my life.

E-Colla ??? 0157 is the adress??? Good rare burgers???

Oh no, here we are again. Boys and girls, be careful with this fish as well as anything called white tuna or escolar. There is at least another thread on escolar or butter fish but let's just say that no matter how delicious this fish is, keep eating it in very small quantities.

Very, very hard to find good meat at decent prices around Montclair. I've been here for a little more than a year and I'm still looking. Whole Foods is insane: 20 bucks for a duck breast that I buy for 3, wholesale; about 20 to 25 bucks for just a regular ribeye???? These people don't like meat. As far as I'm concerned, the A & P on Valley Road has the best prices around: organic chicken and pork, cheap free range aussie beef and, sometimes, really good deals on lamb.

Why a doctor? Why a rabbi? The food business is no diferent than any other business. I was a lawyer for awhile (ten years of labour relations), have been a shoe salesman, a drugstore delivery guy, a night shift nurse helper in psychiatric hospital, sold stamps to collectors, etc. The best job I ever got? Restaurant chef. Been doing it for 10 years, still love it. The athletic background sure helps but the main thing is to STAY in shape which gets hard after 40. Fat Chefs don't last or they write books, as do people with other problems... Mind you, if I had a good publicist or time to sit down and write, I would do the same thing.

Make your own!!! Mix in an equal quantity of heavy cream and sour cream, add salt to taste, cover the bowl and let sit overnight at room temp.

I totally agree. Even though the Pathmark in Montclair really sucks, the staff there is the friendliest of all supermarkets in the area. You'd probably been able to do the same shooting here although the aisles are not as wide as the one in Brooklyn (where I used to shop...).

WHY??? WHY??? WHY???

Waddubut' Cheez Whiz???

Arrrggghhhh....... Can we say Clifcaucusford???

Ghostrider, I know what you mean about Clifton. I live in Bloomridgeclair. Where the hell does Bloomfield ends, Nutley starts and Clifton ???? Anyway, in answer to the thread, why not a food aisle at any Costco (there's one in Secaucus about 5 minutes away from the Lincoln Tunnel).

Montreal, Montreal, Montreal..... On your way there, incredible little restaurants in the middle of the Vermont mountain area (around Middlebury) and all around Burlington. The New England Culinary Institute has done a good job over there. In Montreal (I spent the first thirty-five years of my life there so I'm just a little biased) go to Doval, the best little portuguese bar outside Oporto; Le Maistre, on Monkland in NDG used to be pretty good for the money and Le Caveau on President Kennedy (if it's still there..) was always great. If you decide to go there, PM me so I can call friends to get you fresh info.

Americans never learned how to make bread. This is the land of Wonder Bread and Sourdough. In France, boulangers are real professionals and as such, are treated with respect. People there will not eat any bread that is not made on the same day. It really is an art or a very skilled trade learned over many years. Unfortunately, in this country, we settle for much less quality 'cause we don't care. And don't start telling me anything about Balthazar, please.

Pakeporkchops, Mexican food is only moderately spicy???? I beg to differ. Having been to both Thailand and Mexico and eaten at lots of Indian and Sri Lankan places, THE spiciest food I've ever eaten was in Mexico. You gotta travel, man, and eat at real local joints. Markets are pretty boring, I agree, but usually, there's one good restaurant or bar in every town. Just ask around and you'll find stuff that you won't even be able to eat without begging for oxyger. Again, I don't like the fact that chiles are only used to make things hot, moderately hot, somewhat hot or tourist hot. You want flavors AND spice, you go to Southern Mexico and tell me that Thai or even Sri Lankan is better or hotter.

Don't Chili peppers originate from Mexico and the Central and Southern Americas? I find that most Indian and Asian cooks use the same type of small Tabasco-like pepper just to enhance flavour ... or kill the dish. It usually doesn't add anything else than heat. Now, if you get used to the heat, take a trip to Oaxaca or Jalisco, Mexico and plurge into their very intricate use of up to 300 varieties of chilis. Hot AND flavorful...and you can learn how to appreciate the different tastes. The hottest dish I ever had was in a bar in Tepic (Nayarit, Mexico): just plain old pickled veggies that locals were eating like they were dill pickles. I had the hiccups for two days (I have no problem eating fresh serranos or jalapenos by themselves).

Woops, just realized it was all about outside the US

New Orleans: Gumbo, Jambalaya Puebla: Mole Merida: Pibil Montreal: Smoked Meat + weren't hot dogs created somewhere in Pennsylvania?

Thanks KarenS for an intelligent response. Been in kitchens for a long time. Am old and tired. Yes, I am a chef, as far as you guys seem to think that word is worth shit. The best quote I ever got was from Andre Soltner when he told me that he always was a cook, never a chef. The word itself used to reserved to the corporate honcho of a big hotel chain (e.g. Escoffier). The rest of us are cooks and proud to be.