Holly Moore

Never been a great chef, but a long time ago in the town of Parsippany NJ I was an above average short order cook. My guilty pleasure, especially in the summer, was a quart of cold milk quickly downed in the walk-in.

Does anyone sense they are watching "Lockup: Women's Prison" rather than a chef's competition? Some hard stuff going down among the women participants.

Asking to be moved makes sense. But it doesn't solve the problem for other diners. Restaurant management should have recognized the problem before you felt it necessary to talk with them. If it was my restaurant, and a customer brought it to my attention because we hadn't caught it, I'd watch the table for a while to see if they were at fault or the complaining customer was hypersensative. Assuming the table was, indeed, objectionably loud, I'd first have a quiet word with that table's host. If a couple of such warnings didn't work, I'd offer to move them to a more private area or to a table in the bar where they could be more "relaxed." If that failed, I'd ask them to leave. On the other hand, if I thought the customer was hypersensative, I'd offer to move his party to a different table. It is the management's responsibility to maintain a pleasant dining environment. The most a customer should need to do is call an issue to the management's attention. It is up to the management to resolve the issue. I am a Cornell Hotel School Grad. At least in my day, we never covered such issues in a classroom other than having "hospitality" stressed at every opportunity. Handling customers comes with intuition, experience and, unfortuanately, an occasional call to law enforcement.

I was the McDonald's corporate representative at one of the original Big Mac photo shoots back in 1968 or early 1969. Some techniques not detailed in the video: 1) The hamburger patties are frozen. They are quickly browned at very high temps on the outside but the interior of the patties are still frozen solid, which is why the patties hold their shape. The edges are painted as shown in the video. The buns are purchased uncut. That way we could cut them perfectly. We'd bring in maybe 20 dozen buns to get the pic of the crop. The sesame seeds were never perfect so we plucked some off and glued on a bunch more sesame seeds. Photo shoots are incredibly boring - a dozen people standing around a perfectly posed hamburger for eight to ten houts. Even back then McDonald's only used the exact ingredients used in their stores, purchased from regular McDonald's suppliers.

I am still pissed at Steven for first messing with the original Commissary concept and then closing it all down. The original first floor Commissary, before the Commissary Market came to be, is still my favorite Philadelphia restaurant ever. Breakfast especially. A variety of fresh juices, fresh baked croissants, brioche and coffee cakes, the omelette bar, Commissary coffee. Perfect omelettes - nova salmon, dill and chives was my favorite. I remember one brunch dish, chipped beef in a cheddar sorbaise sauce. It was a special place with Shake-Shack like lines and, I'm guessing, a way-too-high labor cost, which led to the its eventual downfall. Maybe the Commissary was too far ahead of its time. I wonder if Steven misses it as much as I do?

Fickle is as fickle does. Am spending way too much time researching this. Now I'm liking the DSC-RX100 which is coming out in July. Edited to add, looks like you need to click through an advertisement to see the review/preview.

Thanks. Am checking out the Nikon P300. I was leaning towards the S100 but there are numerous customer complaints on both Amazon and Canon Store site re lens error with lens not closing and blurry pic - comments about quality control issues. Wondering if I'm smarter going with a S95?

My trusty Canon SD800IS is starting to have issues - like I broke off part of the dial on the back. Figure it is time to investigate today's crop of pocket cameras. I use mine mostly for restaurant and restaurant food shots for my site and for twitter and facebook; tote it in my pocket most days. Looking for a replacement that is rugged, good in low light without flash and has good white balance. Also wondering if, instead, I should just update my iphone. Mine is about two and a half years old and I'm not satisfied with pics from it, but the latest versiion seems impressive. All guidance is welcome. Thanks.

Umm. Meant the "Voice." Re Alton Brown, I like quirky, but he's fake emoting too much with the team format on Next Food Network Star. Enjoy him on Iron Chef. Feel he's at his best when sparring with other food-lebrities.

I predict that next year, in keeping with their adoption of the "Choice" singing show team format, the potential Food Network superstars will cook/audtioin for judges sitting with backs to the auditionees, in oversized rotating chairs, and who select their teams based on aroma and concocted personna.

Seems like this year a third of the chefmasochistestants make a point of being from "Da Hood."

Johnny Ads in Old Saybrook CT just across the state line. Some of the best fried clams I've happened upon. http://www.hollyeats.com/JohnnyAds.htm

I used to run the deli operations for the Wisconsin IGA distributor. There was a constant debate over slicing to order vs.displaying the cold meats presliced. The disadvantage of preslicings is the moisture loss (a pound of evaporated water costs as much as a pound of cold cuts) and that slower moving cold cuts deteriorated day to day. The advantage of preslicing is that we sold significantly more cold cuts when they were displayed sliced - both more eye appeal and, for the meek, the deli workers aren't burdened by being asked to slice individual orders. In high volume delis we presliced. In slower delis, we sliced to order. Incidently, the coldcuts and smoked meats we sold came from Usinger's and Klemments, both old-time Milwaukee and German sausage makers. The quality and variety was unsurpassed.

Dele, You are starting out with three strikes against you - no restaurant management knowledge, low funding and you are doing the project with a group of friends. Restaurant management knowledge - pricing and costing a menu, job descriptions and training employees, ordering, planning production, controlling waste, marketing and developing buzz. A restaurant is one of the few businesses where you both manufacture and sell products and where both many raw materials and finished products have short shelf life - must be used/sold within a day. Your group can hire a manager or chef with this knowledge, but you will be at that person's mercy because you won't be able to manage him/her due to your lack of knowledge and experience. The wrong person/people could ruin a restaurant or, even worse, rob you blind. Funding - Under capitalization is, I believe, the most common reason a restaurant closes within its first year of operation. If you can't open with money in the bank to cover fixed costs for the first few months it is going to be tough. You will be hit with opening expenses you never anticipated. Suppliers will want cash up front. There will be deposits for rent, utilities and any equipment you lease or rent. You will have to pay salaries and wages during clean up and training. Inspectors will likely find plumbing, electrical, health or safety issues that must be rectified to obtain licenses. Friends - It varies with group dynamics but there are going to be issues. Is everyone keeping their day job and not fully committing to the restaurant? Who is putting in their share of the work? Who messes up and how often? Consensus or majority decision making and who gets pissed off and discouraged when they are not in the majority or veto a consensus. Who is the boss? Do employees report to one person or to all the friends? More often than not friendships dissolve from the stress of day to day restaurant ownership of a struggling restaurant. Many restaurants still open despite a knowledge these obstacles. Some may make it. More probably won't. My advice would be to hold off until at least some of the group gains restaurant experience and the group raises some additional funds to provide some staying power. If you are going to take the plunge, take the time now to resolve as many of the issues that I and others will raise. Good luck and great success.

Your simplest option might be long term parking at the Philadelphia Airport or one of the privately run parking lots with valet service around the airport. Easy rail transport to/from the airport. Less expensive than Center City.

Perhaps all bloggers are journalists as they typically report on an experience or pass on information. Maybe the meaningful distinction is the same as in any profession. There are good bloggers and poor bloggers.

I'll know one when I see one.

A paraphrased quote from Jiro, "Every day cook better than the day before." I'd love to eat at Jiro's but could not hack the pressure of him staring at me as I manipulate a pair of chopsticks. A great movie that should be shown to freshmen their first day of culinary school and again to seniors at graduation.

David, When I take pics in a restaurant I'm doing it for my website or maybe to post elsewhere. While I'm not trained to produce publication quality, I do want my pics both to represent the food accurately and to have nice color tones and glisten. I've tried shooting in low light without a flash with my SLR - upping the ASA, opening lens, high shutter speeds, etc. Only thing I haven't done is shot in RAW mode. Thing is, I'm never happy with the "punch" of the end result, especially compared to the same pic shot with just the built in flash on my camera. I'm not being critical; just trying to figure out what is possible in low light situations. The pic you posted seems a tad faded or washed out. Is that a function of low light photography? Perhaps dimly lit restaurants preparing pic-worthy fare should designate a portion of the dining room for flash photography.

Beef stroganoff is an entree of a certain era. Perhaps a similarly dated app - a rarity nowadays - consomme madrilene. Haven't had beef stroganoff or consomme madrilene in years. Classics, both.

Last week ABC News ran a series about the use of "boneless lean beef trimmings," more popularly known as "Pink Slime," in supermarket ground beef. They state 70 percent of all supermarket ground beef contains pink slime. According to ABC the USDA does not require "boneless lean beef trimmings" to be listed as an added ingredient to ground beef. Since boneless lean beef trimmings are processed from beef they need not be listed separately. ABC reports that pink slime trimmings were "once only used in dog food and cooking oil." The report describes the manufacturing process: Got me wondering about hamburger patties used by restaurants and fast food chains. Googled the question - USA Today reports that some fast food chains decided in January to stop using pink slime because of the bad PR, but the USDA still uses it for the school lunch program. While Mr. Spock would certainly argue that considering pink slime to be "beef" is logical as it is made from livestock components with no additives other than a dash of ammonia, and even though I have no problem eating hot dogs or scrapple, I'm thinking its about time to buy a grinder attachment for the ol' Hobart mixer.

Y'all mean "cheesey grits."

I understand Next's and, it looks like, Alinea's position that a restaurant chair has a monetary value, especially at a restaurant that sells out nightly. An odd numbered party means a chair sits empty for one turn, costing the restaurant the profit it would earn if the chair were occupied. From a purely money oriented point of view it makes fiscal sense to only accept even numbered parties that match up to dining room seating. This is especially true for a restaurant that has far more prospective diners wanting reservations than tables available. But the reservation policy is exclusionary. A solo diner passing through Chicago can not get a reservation. The same for a couple taking a widowed parent out to dinner. No hope, either, for an odd number of friends getting together for a special meal. Simply put, greed trumps hospitality. There is also the coldness of the web site based reservation system. When I call a restaurant for a reservation, if my desired day or time is not available, we can discuss what is open. The next week or month? An hour earlier or later? Perhaps a waiting list? This is the level service a great restaurant should offer - especially a Michelon three star restaurant such as Alinea. Next's and Alinea's approach seems more like what could be expected from an Appleby's than restaurants of their caliber. I also mildly object to advancing a restaurant its operating funds. Prepaying for meals is nothing more than a short term, interest free loan. Good if you can get it, I guess. I hate the arrogance of their system, both the tickets and the requirement for even numbered parties - the we-can-get-away-with-it-so-we-will, take-it-or-leave-it attitude. Same as fine dining restaurants that do not accept reservations. A year or two later, the same restaurants are begging for guests to make reservations - a proper comeuppance, for sure. This wasn't the case at Trio, where Grant was before Alinea. I dined there twice, both times solo as I was on my own - in Chicago on business. Welcomed for both dinners. I phoned for a solo reservation. I paid at the end of the meal. I could suggest that a Grant Achatz conceived menu is best experienced solo - no distractions of conversation and such - total plate by plate focus on the progressive flair, drama and whimsey of Grant's choreographed tour de force. From a bean counter's point of view there may be everything right with Next's and Alinea's computer based reservation system. For a customer, nothing.

New owner. New chef. Same chandeliers. Mike Klein's excellent update.

Given any thought to sausage gravy, country ham with red eye gravy? Also a chicken fried steak with gravy? Pork chop? And some homemade or top quality preserves for the biscuits not being dipped in the red eye gravy. Maybe even some liver mush. Southern breakfast fanatic, here, if it wasn't obvious. Wishing you great success. Edited to add: Also sausage biscuits and country ham biscuits, oh yeah.