Sandra Levine

Kofta made from Mrs. Singh's recipe, but using ground turkey in deference to a non-red meat eater Deeply flavorful from aromatic spices with some heat. Roasted cauliflower with cumin. Leftover pilau from recent Indian take-out meals. India pale ale.

I've heard that Graffeo is served in many S.F. restaurants, but not necessarily identified by name.

Graffeo is a coffee roaster in San Francisco. I've seen their beans at Dean & DeLuca in NYC, but you can order from them directly. Here's a link: Graffeo coffee

Good fish and wide choice of interesting beer at a dive called the Oar House in Lake Worth, one town south of W. Palm Beach.

Creme fraiche does it for me.

Here's some more information, maybe more information than you wanted to know, about borage. It seems to have some psycho-active properties, although perhaps no more than coffee or chocolate. Borage Nothing about how to actually use it with food, though. Isn't it supposed to taste something like celery? A Google search for borage recipes turns up a lot, but I can't vouch for any of them. It seems that the plant -- either the flowers or leaves -- is used in Germany. Maybe Peter Wolf can help.

I'm wondering about the similarity of the Meinl's coffee at Cafe Sabarsky to Yrgacheffe at Dean & DeLuca. I regret that I do not remember the name of the roaster. D & D's Yrgacheffe is a Viennese roast, Ethiopian (E. African, as described for Cafe Sabarsky) bean. When I worked there, it was by far the most popular seller, at about $12 lb., then, $15 lb. now. Yrgacheffe has a very full body and deep, almost chocolatey flavor, with an impression of rather low acidity. It's smooth as satin, but without brightness. Has anyone tasted both D & D's Yrgacheffe and Cafe Sabarsky's blend? Not tht going to the Cafe Sabarsky myself would be such a chore...

Speaking of the food mill -- I am reminded of Marcella Hazan's recipe for a fresh tomato sauce with butter. She suggests cutting tomatoes in half, cooking them for about 10 minutes, putting them through the food mill into another saucepan, adding a peeled onion cut in half and 5 tablespoons of butter. Cook slowly for about 45 minutes, taste for salt and pepper and remove the onion before using. This is especially good with gnocchi.

I forgot to specify that you should remove the seeds. Tommy, I love raw tomatoes -- except for the disgusting yuck around the seeds. You may like them better without the seeds, too.

What a letdown! I came to this thread via "New Posts" just noticing Pigalle, Soho and immediately thought of NYC, provincial New Yorker that I am.

When the dead ripe red tomatoes are finally here, they don't even need cooking. Just chop them up and let them sit for an hour or two on the counter with some good olive oil, chopped basil, black olives, and cubed mozzarella, if you like. Pour over cooked pasta. No tomato sauce is better. (I think we did a whole thread on uncooked tomato sauce last year, but since the search function doesn't work, it's worth repeating -- although, I admit, I'm rushing the season by at least two months. This sauce needs really good tomatoes, because there is no way of improving them.)

Neither is this approach "dumbed-down."

It's refreshing to read about the differences between home and restaurant cooking without seeing the condescending expression, "dumbed-down."

I am looking forward to this.

As far as I know, there is nothing specifically Jewish about it, although it does seem to have a Sephardic character. I make it for Passover because it meets the dietary requirements of the holiday, is so simple to prepare and yet has, for my family, an exotic quality, compared to the usual Ashkenazic fare. (I do halve the amount of sugar.)

I stumbled on Cocnut Grove last month and posted about it. I haven't been back, either and I wonder how it is doing. Coconut Grove

What date do you have in mind?

This has been my family's Passover Seder main course for a numberr of years. I serve it with a roasted potato and artichoke heart dish and asparagus, but I think couscous would work very well with it. Or rice, prepared simply, with a chicken stock.

I'm sorry to have to come in after the mohel, but to bring the subject back to roast chicken, I have had great success recently with brining, rubbing well with oil, starting the chicken on top of the stove in a hot cast-iron pan, 5 minutes on each side, and then transfering the chicken in the same pan to the oven to roast. I also like the lemon in the cavity method. I never baste, just rub the skin with oil or butter initially, and I always have wonderfully crisp skin.

The food took forever to come out. There was one server, who disappeared for long stretches of time, until I began to imagine that he was also cooking. He was very polite and apologetic, but I have only a certain amount of time at lunch. It may be that there is more staff at dinner. The food was very good. I am eager to go again in the evening.

Brioche is very similar to challah and yield similar results. Have you ever tried using raisin bread? I make French toast the way you do, but with milk rather than half & half (calories) and I add a splash of orange juice.

I have been to Guru twice and, while the food seemed very good to me, the service is so slow that I did not have time to finish either meal! (It was lunchtime and I had to get back to my office.) Maybe there is more staff at dinner. Allow plenty of time.

Even with a checked, gingham shirt. (My husband calls this outfit, "un Bernard." Add a knitted tie, and it becomes "un full Bernard." He is always treated with great respect.

I made a rhubarb sorbet a few weeks ago -- very unusual and delicious. I stewed the rhubarb with a little water, measured the resulting puree and added about 1/3 the amount of sugar and froze in the ice cream maker.

Liza, what kind of bread did you use? (add superlatives)