Holly Moore

For many it is an easy trap to fall into. No bad intentions, but the money is withdrawn from employees' payroll and then has to be paid approximately one to three months later. Sort of a free loan. When cash flow is an issue, and it often is for restaurants and other small businesses, that money gets spent to cover essential operating costs. Then, come the 15th of the month following the end of the quarter, it is all gone and no cash to pay the payroll. So the owner either holds off paying suppliers when he should to pay the taxes or he doesn't pay the taxes because he has to keep his business open. That is why for the past few years I have used a payroll service that withholds the money every week at the time they write the pay checks. I don't have access to the withheld funds, so there is no temptation to use the tax money for expenses. In my various businesses I had never missed a withholding tax payment, but there were times when it was a major struggle to make it. I hate that the payroll service earns interest on the withholdings rather than me, but it makes life for a small businessman much less stressful during periods when cash is otherwise very tight.

I was there for an Italian Hoagie. Owner Anthony Bucci started bragging on their new pan sautéed filet mignon sandwich. I ended up buying both - never hurts to have an Italian hoagie on standby for late night munching. This is one great sandwich. Not the tidiest sandwich, especially after a ten minute scooter ride home. But so good. A generous portion of filet, cut thick, is sautéed to medium. Portabella mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes and dijon mustard are added. Next, a splash of white wine. Voila - drama - flambé. Everything goes on a Sarcone's roll, along with aged provolone. The bad news - it is only available on weekends.

Alas, I read too fast. However in many ways the hotel school functions independent of the university - more so than most of the schools at Cornell. It might be argued that Dean Beck was both Dean and President of the hotel school. Doesn't matter. I am glad I had/took the public opportunity to recognize the impact Dean Beck had on my career and my life - and those of countless other hotelies.

I find it reassuring that New Orleans locals and visitors were able to strike out on their own and dine well the past year or two without the guidance of a restaurant critic.

Dean Beck of the Cornell Hotel School, long retired, used to walk the halls every day and had an announced open door policy. I was at Cornell to check out the engineering school (I hope they have 86'd the Kuder Preference Test by now) in July before my senior year at high school. My father who had stayed at Statler Hall on a number of occasions, took me across the street to see the hotel school. We were walking through the deserted first floor class room corridor. Dean Beck came up, introduced himself, and ended up spending an hour telling me about the hotel school. Not sure why, since there always has been a waiting list - it's not like he needed to drum up business. But I had my application in a week or two later, and had early admittance that winter. If Dean Beck had something to do that afternoon, I might well have spent my career doing whatever it is that engineers do.

Didn't get away for lunch until 4:30 today. Aha, an ideal opportunity to broaden my menu choices at Parc. Got there at 4:40 and seated at 4:45. By now I know the rules. No full menu between 3 PM and 5 PM. "I understand I can not order dinner until 5 PM, but might I look at the dinner menu now and plan my 5 PM order?" Of course I can't. There are rules and they must be obeyed. Not only does dinner service not begin until 5 PM. Pre-5 PM dinner menu perusing is forbidden. I feared telling them that I was ordering lunch at dinner time. Parc might have refused to bring a menu until noon the next day. Nor would a server bring me a dinner menu at 4:50 PM. Or 4:56. "The computer is locked in until 5 PM." I promised to not attempt to order until 5 PM, but still no menu. At precisely 5 PM a lit candle was placed on my table. At 5:01, a smile and a dinner menu. I had the calves liver. It was very good.

This is what I'm talking about. Lower right is the stem area cut out. Then the tomato was halved.

A negative restaurant review, even an erring negative restaurant review, is like capital punishment. Once the switch is pulled not much can be done to rectify the situation. It's impact depends on how much juice the reviewing publication has. Editorial corrections are about as rare as Texas governor commutations.

This time of the year, here in Philadelphia, the majority of the local tomatoes I purchase, other than heirloom, have white pulp on the stem end, sometimes running through most of the tomato. This pulp is tough and tasteless. It is their even if, otherwise, the tomato seems nice and ripe. My guess is that these are young tomatoes that have been pushed to appear ripe, picked prematurely and they have not developed completely inside. Anyone have any idea if I'm correct or if their is another reason for this? Does it have to do with variety?

A. Eats Works for me.

Headhouse Square Alert - The tomato guy from Virginia, Sugar Hill Farm was at the market today and will be there for just one more week. His tomatoes are really good. Unfortunately much of this year's tomato crop was washed out by rains.

"Villain" is perhaps too kind.

Cheap shot at Les Halles. And undeserved. As for shoestring fries, perhaps it is vive le difference. But it is impossible to get the interplay of mealy inside with crisp outside in a shoestring fry. The mealy to crisp ratio just isn't there. I speak for myself, but I can not imagine anyone who has had properly prepared 1 cm cut pommes frites not preferring them to shoestring fries, just as I can not understand anyone ordering a good steak well done.

My problem with shoestring fries, besides being so cliché and so fast-foody, is that they are an inferior product compared to a thicker cut french fry. When a good restaurant goes to all the trouble to do fresh cut fries properly, why not present them in their best possible form? I blame the fast food generation. When Monk's first opened I convinced Tom to switch to a 1/4" cut fry. He did. For less than a week, until he tired of his customers whining for shoestring fries. I can't blame Tom for switching back. I do actually, but in all fairness I shouldn't. I think that if he hung in their he could have converted customers to pommes frites. After all the fast food generation does rave about boardwalk fries when they are lucky enough to get classic and truly fresh cut boardwalk style fries.

To be fair, all those things could happen while service continues. Many restaurants are able to do so. Unless Parc has a really small kitchen, it is a question of staffing and organization. Les Halles in New York serves a full menu, similar to Parc's, from 7:30 AM to Midnight, daily. I'm guessing 800 covers isn't that impressive to Les Halles. Balthazar takes 45 minutes off between 5:00 PM and 5:45 PM. Rouge, who pre-Parc probably had similar turns, at least in nice weather, takes off specials but serves their regular lunch menu through til dinner. I was kidding about the prima donna wuss part. But if Parc wanted to, they could serve through to dinner. And for a brasserie/bistro, they should. Edited to add: I probably wouldn't take so strong an exception if Parc at least tried during the three to five period. But just 6 items plus raw bar out of their entire menu? That's worse than after hours hotel room service choices. Edited again to add: From Les Halles website:

Made it back to Parc on Thursday for another late lunch. With my lunch hours and Parc's inflexibility - their bare-boned 6 item plus raw bar menu between three and five, I will never have access to the bulk of their menu. Explain to me again why a Bistro like Parc, with most of the lunch menu carried through to the dinner menu, must take a two hour siesta in mid afternoon? Bunch of prima donna wusses back in the kitchen. Service was much more snappy this time. Bread came immediately. My cheeseburger took maybe fifteen minutes. I didn't mention the knee high walk-in cooler dining room temperatures in my earlier post. Figured it was a matter of fine tuning their HVAC system. Still kind of chilly down there, but better. I ordered my cheeseburger medium rare and 2/3rd of it was just that. Once pie wedge sector came in at medium to medium well. Haven't had that happen very often. Interestingly that same sector, along with the fries, was over salted. The medium rare sector of the cheeseburger was very good. The reddish green tomato slices served on the side - reminiscent of Little Pete's. OK, what is all this hoopla about Parc's fries? "Frites: Excellent." "The fries, A+." These are mere shoestring, fast food fries - fresh cut, twice fried - but not all that much better than modern day McDonald's fries, fresh out of the fryer, and not as good as McDonald's fries, back when they were starting with whole potatoes. Friggin' fast food generation. Get over shoestring fries. Thicker cut fries, as in the 1 cm cut Belgium pommes frites, when properly fried, are far superior.

Just saw this thread. I was in Chiang Mai last year. Strange as it seems, one of my favorite dishes was at the Four Seasons - their chilled tomato soup with crab and balsamic vinegar. It is the deepest richest tomato soup I have tasted. More Thai, their approach to pad thai, which is covered with a drizzled egg yolk netting But what I really want to do is to second the recommendation for a visit to the Elephant Nature Park. You won't ride elephants, because the structure the elphant ride places seat tourists on can harm an elephant's spine at its weakest point and also damage babies if a female happens to be pregnant (hard to tell with an elephant). What you will be able to do is hang with about thirty elephants for a day, feed them, and bathe them in a river. It is a preserve for abused elephants and ranks right up there with my top two or three tourist experiences at any point in my life. Edited to add - Great pics, Chris. Thanks for pointing out so many places that I missed. Only had a couple of days there. I'll have to get back and stay in Chiang Mai, itself.

Alas Team Delta is not conducting SERE training this weekend or I could whip your group up a kettle of my infamous boiled white bread. Pizza my not be sufficiently high cuisine for your needs, but there is a place in Exeter, a suburb of Wilkes-Barre (on the way to the airport) that serves outstanding rectangular pizza. L'Oven, 1259 Wyoming Ave

Sorry, I find metric crayfish too complicated to eat. They don't fit American fingers.

In the US of A many restaurants serve shoestring potatoes (McDonald's cut) and call them Pommes Frites What thickness cut is most common in France? 1 cm? Do any respected bistros or restaurants serve a shoestring thickness pomees frite?

Long out of print, but still available from Amazon - The Greenwich Village cookbook. It is a 1969 compilation of recipes from over 70 Greenwich Village restaurants of that era, a few of which are still around.

Made it to Parc today for my typical 4 PM lunch, or as Parc calls it, "L'Apres-Midi Menu" which is served from 3 to 5 PM. "L'Apres-Midi" translates to "only 6 menu choices available." I could accept such a vastly reduced menu in just about any kind of restaurant except a bistro/cafe - a sophisticated bistro/cafe at that, where it is expected some of its customers will opt for late lunches and dinners. That is what bistros are about - being there when one needs them. Most of the Parc's lunch menu is also on the dinner menu. It is not like they are pulling their lunch line to get ready to serve dinner. On the lunch menu and dinner menu - both country pate and their charcuterie platter: country pate, prosciutto, sausage, and duck rillete. On the L'Apres-Midi" menu, just country pate. I tried. My server tried. But rules are rules and the kitchen stood firm. No 4 PM charcuterie platter for me. Forty minutes and all of the Inquirer and 3/4 of USA Today later, the pate arrived. My other complaint, to date at least, is Parc's dining room bureaucracy. The first hostess could not seat me. I had to wait five minutes for another hostess to return from seating another party. We're talking 4 PM and a dining room a third full at best. I complain because I love the place. This is what I have been waiting for since the best restaurant ever in Philadelphia, the Commissary of the late 70's, expanded to a second storefront before closing. I intend to be a regular which means the only child in me has to keep whining until Parc adapts to my requirements, even though this is Parc's second day open to the public and they deserves some slack. I had a basket of their terrific, baked-on-premises crusty coarse bread, along with very good butter, to help me bide my time waiting for my order. The country pate, also excellent, though the portion bordered on small for $12. I'd rather pay a buck or two more, and get more. But it is on the menu as an appetizer. Nice presentation. Cornichons, fantastic pickled pearl onions, mesclun, and Pommerey mustard. I tried the chocolate pot de creme for dessert. Very good. And only $10. Desserts range from $8 to $10 which is great, because I'll be eating there a lot and I really should not be eating dessert very often. I sense Parc and I may be in for a very long, rewarding, and frustrating love/hate relationship. How French.

There used to be a place in Old City Philadelphia where the chef owner would not serve the chicken entree to any more than one person at a table for four. He wanted tables to experience the gamut of his wonderful cooking. Key words are "used to be." The owner is the south end of a mule heading north. Where's Jack Nicholson. "I'll take an iced coffee, hold the coffee, and my friend will have a double espresso."

Bread does not caramelize. ← It is a fast food term, first taught to me by McDonald's in the late 60's when I worked new products. They use the terminology to refer to the heat from the grill caramelizing or browning the sliced surface of the bun on a grill. They and I may be McWrong in the annoyingly scrutinizing eyes of those cursed with accurate scientific knowledge, but over time "caramelize" and "caramelization" have become generally accepted usage within the fast food industry.

Garlic, no. Celery, no. Lettuce, no. Mayonnaise, maybe. A Maine lobster roll is purity - the lobster is the star. Just a light touch of mayonnaise OR melted butter to compliment the chilled lobster meat. A proper Maine lobster roll is also a contrast of temperature and textures - both supplied by the buttered and grilled bun. At the very least the inside of the bun should be buttered and grilled (caramelized). If you share my fanaticism you will also slice off the outer, crust of the bun and butter and toast that - approximating a New England style hot dog bun. Many lobster sandwiches, including the tasty hot lobster drenched in butter and served on a bun that people in Connecticut call a lobster roll, claim lobster roll status. The only true lobster roll is as described above. Enjoy.