JPW

WOOO HOOOOO !!!!!!!!!!!! Jenny, you just made my day!

Ah, so I'm not the only one noticing how CHUBBY he's getting?!?!? In Eat This New York, all you really see is Rocco's face. The biggest difference I noticed was the skin tone. In the documentary, he looks healthy. On the TV show his skin always looks ashen and/or red. I can't say that I like the guy as he has come across in all the media, but I feel for anyone who has been that stressed out that their health looks to be falling apart.

It's an amusing documentary that I've seen a few times now (I especially love the sign painter). I saw it last night before The Restaurant was on. The ironies of Rocco's comments in the film and his actions as portrayed on the show are quite telling. Plus, he physically looks a thousand times better (and thinner) in the documentary.

Please count in JPW + Mrs JPW

Add in all the caveats about editing etc. etc. I thought Emily (the maitre d') showed more patience than I would have. That hostess should have been fired as soon as she started giving lip. I, too, find it hard to believe that Ego-Man would not crow to the bum on the corner, much less everyone around the restaurant, that he was addressing CIA, BUT -- he was going up there to look for a line cook and probably didn't want Chodorow to know anything about it. That assistant waitress was justifiably fired on the spot. My only question is why it was up to the bar manager to lower the axe while the increasingly impotent-seeming floor manager stood by. Where was Laurent? I know that it's brain-rotting fast food TV, but I cannot. Stop. Watching.

[VENT] So, for various reasons I found myself at work until about 7:15 last night. Facing the lovely noise barrier view of the drive down 270 and around the Beltway to Silver Spring, I decided that there was no way in hell that I was going to cook dinner. Whipping out my trusty cell phone, I leapt into action. Dialing Mrs. JPW while plugging in my earpiece so it could look like I was speaking to my invisible friend Gus the Cat or that the Secret Service was now driving 2000 Honda Civics with cracked windshields I began contemplating where I should get some take-out (with my other hand I was smoking a doob while cracking open my 8Ball). The answer came sharp as the point of the rusty needle rolling around below the passenger seat -- get a sandwich from Adega. As I valiantly fought through traffic on Georgia Ave, dodging minivans pulling out of Snider's and cursing the demise of Deetle's Tavern, I made my decision -- the Duke Ellington -- roast beef and brie on a lightly toasted baguette. MMmmmmmmm.... Having fended off the Takoma Park crunchies and the Chevy Chase "walk with my butt very tight"s that flock to Whole Paycheck, I found a place in the garage -- pointedly next to cars that were much nicer than mine. Like a salmon swimming upstream I rounded the corner towards Adega against the flow of people streaming out of Baja Fresh laden with high sodium McDonald's owned "healthy fast food". Seeing a break, I dashed left towards the door, yanked it open like tearing a band-aid off of a tetanus infected wound, and into serenity. One lone man sat forlornly sipping his plastic cup of water. Up I strode to the counter, a hero in a polo shirt to the two (very blonde, very cute, very .. Oh wait I'm married) counter girls whose entertainment for the evening was apparently limited to attempting to learn Spanish from the cooks. having placed my food order, I asked for a glass of vino to soothe my soul while waiting for my food. At the $2 happy hour price I was more than willing to overlook that it is served in a rather unstylish plastic stem. As I sat in my oasis of calm, I watched the torrent of Baja Fresh customers continue to flow by unabated. Polishing off my wine, an article on the soon to come publication of the entire Charles Shultz Peanuts library, and grabbing my order I departed back into the scrum, leaving behind nothing, but 2 Latino cooks, 2 cute countergirls, and 1 lone man forlornly sipping his plastic cup of water. Why? (cue crying native american from the anti-littering ads of the 70s?) [/RANT]

Mmmmmmm. Pickels. Also try thin lemon slices

Add another dead freezer to the list - my weapon of choice was a hammer and a screwdriver........

I've heard that construction from a surprising collection of different sources. Once in a while from The Boy, who is originally from Green Bay WI, though by way of many different places along the way. And I don't remember hearing it at all when I lived in Pittsburgh - in fact, the very first time I ever remember hearing it was from a roommate who was - get this - half Polish, half Scots! though the Scottish accent predominated. So go figure! Very nice blog. I've been somewhat swamped at work so I haven't been able to follow it as closely as I would like. PS - I think the "needs mopped" is a very Polish construction (although I don't know why). I've heard it all over the midwest where there are lots of Poles. Being a Pittsburgher (aka yinzer) I use it myself without thinking. Pittsburgh has one of the largest Polish populations outside of Warsaw and the usage has travelled throughout the city. There's a neighborhood called Polish Hill built on a 45 degree hillside where you may still run across the occasional very old person who speaks nothing but Polish. PPS - Man, my kitchen floor REALLY needs mopped! Yuck!

Microwave grilled cheese. Put two slices bread in toaster. Put two slices of your favorite individually wrapped super-processed american cheese on a piece of Saran Wrap. Microwave on high for 45 seconds. Place a piece of toast on top of each piece of cheese and carefully flip over. Peel off SaranWrap and slap two parts of sandwich together. A snack that Sandra Lee would be jealous of...

Sounds great! Summer's already pretty booked up, but I'd love to do this.

Imagine how that sounds when you're thirty. ARGH. Think of it as a compliment. Before pregnancy began announcing itself so emphatically, Mrs JPW got the same question and she's got you by X number of years. I, myself, would love to get that question, but something (going bald is one sign)tells me that it'll never happen.

Camelot is always a fun birthday destination.

I don't think that you'll find many Savory fans around here, redfox. I think that they're just lazy because they have no competition in TP. To me, Mayorga on Ga Ave in SS is vastly superior. I just hope that the reconstruction of that end of the strip to make it more pedestrian friendly is a success and that the new Starfucks downtown doesn't hurt business too much.

BUMP I was lucky enough to have a friend take Mrs JPW and I out to the big Z on Saturday. Although still not a big fan of the design, it is starting to grow on me. I find sitting on the kitchen side much more pleasant than the big open space on the 9th St. side. Our server was great. The lemonades that Mrs. JPW and our "recovering from a post-divorce bender so now tea tottling" friend had were nice and tart. I enjoyed the Retsina by the glass. Featured were recipes from a cookbook (the author I presume was somewhere around the kitchen) that I just tried to track down online but couldn't find, largely due to some technical problems with the web site. (A little help?) In any case, we tried the crab cake (kavourakeftedes), stuffed squash blossom, blackeyed peas, and something I'm forgetting from the specials side. Regular menu items were more along the familiar favorites side including the kafta, labneh, and kibbeh. Everything was up to standard, except perhaps for the crabcakes (the filler/crab balance was a little off for my palate). There was one Abso-fuckin-lutely brilliant dish. Run, do NOT walk down to try the Stuffed squash blossoms. Words actually fail me as I attempt to describe their taste, texture and balance. All I can say is that it's as if someone opened up a big ol' can of Spring in your mouth that makes you want to take your shoes and socks off and run barefoot through the grass.

I think Emily's critique of my critique of mongo's post (I think that's the right order ) is spot on. Mongo - While prep cooks will do most of the basics for mise, almost all line cooks will do the more complex/demanding prep work themselves, especially when it involves expensive ingredients!

An inch of water in a sauce pan at a slow boil. Put a mixing bowl on top so that it does not touch the water below. Voila, double boiler.

? Granted it's been a decade since I've been in a professional kitchen, but I think you're just wrong. Maybe you can just walk out after service if you're the head/executive chef, but any line cook who walks away from his station without it being spotless, without all food being properly covered/wrapped and put away, and without cleaning the work tools, is asking to get severely beat down. Someone gave me a copy of "The Soul of a Chef" that I've been reading. The third story in it is about The French Laundry and talks about Keller cleaning up his own prep station and sweeping floors. Doing dishes is about the only thing on that list that cooks tend not to do (although I've done those as well while working line). For me, the big difference is a matter of resources. I just don't have all the stuff in my house that I had in restaurant kitchens. No salamander, no convection oven, no giant griddle, no brick oven, no 6 top range, no rotisserie, no gyro spit, etc. (not all in the same kitchen). Not to mention the limited number of ingredients in my house as opposed to restos I still cook like I am in a resto kitchen - my wife hates watching me cook at home because I'm always moving at a slightly controlled panic level high speed. What restaurant work taught me for home use? 1) PREP! 2) Timing dishes 3) PREP! 4) How to improvise recipe replacements 5) Did I mention prep?

Tex-Mex is my 15 minute salvation "Leftover" quesadillas - this week the meat will be the left over pork kebobs from last night. Hack up some toms, onions, and whatever other veggies I have in the bin, top with cheese and Tabasco. Throw in saute pan. Enchiladas - about the same as above, but roll like a burrito, throw in a small casserole, top with whatever sauce is around, sprinkle with cheese and throw in oven.

I don't know if the Montgomery laws are a problem. In NY they can only sell beer (no wine) in grocery stores. Wine and liquor are restricted to independently owned stores. What you often see is a business split into two. For example, my favorite sub shop in that rathole known as Binghamton NY was next door to the wine/booze shop a nice layout, considering you would often see the owner running from one to the other (OK in his case it was more like a shuffle with time for a smoke thrown in) Plus they have stores in PA where they can't sell ANY booze.

More importantly, Where's he goin' with that gun in his hand? Joe W

I agree with you Steve, although it is a fine line between being a tough business person and an extortionist. To attempt to make my point more clear - Without stocking fees, WF needs to have higher prices to generate adequate revenue. Because of their business model and market positioning they can build and maintain market share while having higher prices. I hadn't really thought about the image side of it and I think that it is a good point. We'll see what happens if competition increases on that side of the market and retail prices start getting driven down. My disagreement with Emily stems more from her taking the position that "WalMart doesn't have stocking fees and they have low prices" as a refutation to my point that the lack of WF stocking fees is one reason why their prices are high. The point I wanted to make was that WalMart doesn't take stocking fees because they have a different way to keep retail prices low. One, that to my mind, is just as effective and slightly less close to extortion. Walmart can do this no only because they have fewer branded products that they *have* to carry than grocery stores do but because they are truly the 800 pound gorilla in the terms of purchasing power.

Well, but Walmart doesn't charge them, either, and, well, they're pretty cheap ... I did not know that, but it is (especially these days) in a much different business situation. Apples and oranges. And yes, I do know that WalMart Supercenters are being built that have grocery stores within. But comparing them to Safeway, Kroger's, Giant, etc. is just not supportable. WalMart basically calls reps from providers into Bentonville and dictates prices. It's rather like supplicants seeking an audience with the king. If you don't meet their price, you don't have access to the largest retailer in the world. You also don't get a second chance. They're like elephants - they never forget. The whole WalMart business model eveolved from getting the cheapest possible prices from producers, and now since they are the biggest, they get the cheapest prices. There is not yet the necessary concentration in the grocery store sector for that kind of purchasing power to occur. However, there are still businesses desperate to get their products on the shelves of the leading chains. What's key here is that there are certain branded products that grocery stores *must* carry (e. g. Ritz Crackers), not really the case at Walmart. How then can groceries make money off of those products? Option 1) Higher prices. At some point a nearby store undercuts. Option 2) Offer them a better location for a price. Sugar based cereals fight for the lower shelves so that they are at eye level with little kids. Have you ever seen Lucky Charms on a high shelf? All products fight to be near the end of a row for more passers-by. Don't mean to rant on you Emily, but I find your comparison of grocery stores to WalMart to be not entirely supportable.

Get a second pan. Seriously. There is no way around it. If you crowd your pan, you won't get a good sear on your steaks, and how fun is that? but...i've only got one burner that's powerful enough to drive some real frying. Do batches. First batch goes on a plate or a sheet in a warm (whatever the bottom temp on your range is) oven. Bring all up to heat at the same time by roasting at a higher temp.

Don, That is indeed a large part of revenue for major grocery chains. If you really wanted, I could probably track down several reputable sources confirming this. Surprised that Whole Paycheck does not do this at all. No wonder their prices are so freaking high. Without the extortion, I mean "stocking fees", they can't afford to have any loss leaders.