Holly Moore

From today's New York Times Dawson Journal there is mention of the Sourtoe Cocktail whose popularity, surprisingly, has yet to have spread from a lone hotel in Dawson, Yukon Territory, Canada.

Not sure if they're in session, but it might be a fun project for the Restaurant School's student run bakery. The Pastry Shop at The Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College 215.222.4200 Open daily Monday - Saturday 7:30am - 6:00pm

Nope. The power of eGullet. I read Aliwaks' write-up and, come lunch time, hopped on my trusty scooter and headed there.

Gave Honey's a try today for lunch. Service was wierd but food was very good. Started with an outstanding heritage tomato and cucumber gazpacho. Cool, crisp and and bursting with summer flavor. Onto half a barbecue brisket sandwich with a side of fresh cut french fries. Herein my server becomes part of my experience. I asked, "Are the fresh cut fries twice cooked?" Server answered, "No we just cook them once." He couldn't get away from my table fast enough. I think he suspected I was asking some sort of trick adolescent question like, "Do you have pig's feet?" Brisket was sloppy joeish, not that there is anything wrong with sloppy joeish. The potatoes were 90 percent there. I was pretty sure they had been twice cooked, but they lacked the black and white distinction between paper thin crisp outside and airy mealy inside that marks at proper fritte. Time to order desert but I was talking on my cell phone. I know - no cell phones at the table. But I was on my own and the place was mostly empty. Besides that I'm a very important person with very important phone calls. Alas the server didn't realize that and tried to interupt my phone call to see if I wanted anything else. I stuck up my hand as in "wait till I get off the phone." Oblivious, he waved back and asked again. Anyway, for dessert, blueberry pie. Homemade with fresh whipped cream. Also very good. As he brought the pie I tried again, "What I was trying to ask before... Does the chef blanche the fries and let them set before finishing them off?" With a look that screamed "you doddering old fool" he replied, "No, we only cook them once." As I left a couple of the kitchen staff were outside chatting. I asked again about the fries. "Yes, twice cooked. We fry them at 275, let them cook and finish them in hot oil." I suggested they share that secret with my waiter. I can see Honey becoming a regular at least once a week stop. They're only open between 8 AM and 4 PM or I'd throw in a dinner visit or two on top of that. BTW, yes Aliwaks, chicken fried steak gravy and breading should be peppery spicy. I'll likely be trying Honey's version my next time there.

Actually, despite the single bell, Laban had a lot of good things to say about Bookbinders. I must say though that I always got a hit of super rich veal stock from Old Original's snapper soup and not the "the fragrant spices and citrus zest that should dance across sherry-splashed broth like an exotic trade wind" that Craig longs for. And I might have to eat a few of my words about limiting one's order to fresh oysters, snapper soup and steamed/broiled lobster. Seems to be some other good cooking coming out of the kitchen.

A single reviewing meal, even 12 courses, is bush league - expected more from a restaurant critic for a weekly shopper having no budget to cover the cost of the restaurant meal. Writing about Alinea and not ordering the Tour de Force is pure laziness. Worse, especially when Grant Achatz is doing the cooking, it demonstrates a troubling and disappointing lack of curiosity from a restaurant reviewer for a major, urban daily. Bruno's inability to appreciate the unique insight that "The Alinea Project" provides to restaurant professionals and restaurant diners alike (and most likely, along the way, to Grant, himself), shows a writer trapped in the 20th Century where there was a comfortable distance between writer and reader and where the chef and the diner had no editorial voice. One wonders what cost Alinea that half a star. A lapse Bruno neglected to mention in the review or his sense that three and one half stars would draw more attention to Pat Bruno than four stars.

You're not going to find a more authentic or a better priced genuine Philadelphia Pretzel than at Federal Pretzel on Federal Street in South Philadelphia. As fresh as it gets. That said, if I could only have one more pretzel in my life, it would be from Fishers, aswim in melted butter and traced with mustard.

Welcome to eGullet, Mike. Good to know the link is working. For Cajun, sorta Nouevelle Cajun, give Carmines on Woodbine Avenue in Narbeth a try.

Let me guess, you're not a chef, or a professional cook, are you? Thomas Keller, Grant Achatz, etc, all of those guys have a stack of resumes on their desks of like 1000 people eveyrday who want to work for them, and they are the top in the world. So, they can look at someone and tell them to do 10 jumping jacks, and they will do it. They will beg to do them. They will hope that they have done the best 10 jumping jacks that they have ever done becuase they don't want to get fired for not doing them perfect. 99.9999999999999999999% of the rest of the chefs in teh world don't have that luxury. So, it becomes a learned thing to holler and it becomes the main method of motivation. I don't care what anyone says, when my chef is yelling at me in front of the other staff, I hate it, and I do whatever I can to do what I am doing better, so he won't holler at me anymore. Why? Becuase i am trying to be better than everyone else, and teh chef is telling them, in not so many words, that I am stinking up the joint. And I hate that. ← 1. I am guessing that Ramsay has as tall a stack of resumes as Keller or Achatz. On this thread people have said that Ramsay behaves the same in a real kitchen as he does on TV. The reason for his bullying behavior is not that he can't find talented people. 2. Those 99.99999999999% other chefs do not use hollaring as their main method of motivation. Just as some of the .000000000001% only know how to motivate by intimidation, some of the 99.99999999999% only know how to motivate by intimidation. A chef, be it a great chef or an average chef, bullies the staff because a) that is the way he was managed so it is the only way he knows how to manage, b) he is lousy at evaluating and hiring staff and ends up with losers, c) he is too self-involved to respect those working for him and/or d) he has issues that will keep some psychiatrist in a new BMW every year. But no matter the underlying cause, like bullies everywhere, a chef is a bully mostly because he gets off on being a bully. The occasional chefly hollar or snap happens in any high pressure situation. Such yelling is a far more effective motivator when it is occasional and for a critical situation requiring immediate correction then when it is a chef's primary style of communication.

The only fool Ramsay suffers gladly is himself. Ramsay is the stereotypical, temperamental bully of a chef who is happiest when demeaning his staff. All Ramsay does is reinforce the Saturday morning cartoon cliche that the uninformed believe to be the typical and mandatory behavior of a "genius" chef. The chefs I respect - Grant Achatz and Jean Vergnes are two examples that come to mind - are indeed demanding and exacting. In the heat of turnout I am sure they occasionally lose their temper. But they spend far more time mentoring, building teams and building self worth. Their people skills are as great as their cooking skills. And they build loyalty out of respect, not fear. Those who can only lead by playing the bully do so from weakness, not strength. Bourdain is impressed that Ramsay's staff, despite his treatment of them, followed Ramsay when he left to open his own restaurant. I find it sad that Ramsay's staff suckles so on his abuse - akin to the battered wife's typical, never-wavering devotion to her husband - coming back again and again for the occasional good moments. And like the classic battering husband - as Ramsay learned his management style of bullying and demeaning from his teachers, Ramsay's staff will eventually do the same to their underlings once they take over their own kitchens. It is too bad that the two chefs America gets to know through reality shows are Rocco and Ramsay. Two chefs, at least as portrayed on TV, with incredible cooking skills that are totally diminished by their ability to manage people. That said. Just as I slow down at a car wreck in the hope of glimpsing some blood and gore, I will be watching next week. Fox's promo says the chef is turning off the kitchen air conditioning. Golly. That should really heat things up. Everybody together now, "If you can't stand the heat..."

After your last two trips just one question, "Ya're not going to start another road food type web sit are ya?" We've got enough road food web sites already. If you are though, you're off to a great start. Once again, well eaten!

We are talking way up, downeast, but if you can make it to Pembroke, and you should, the Crossroads Restaurant, at least the Crossroads Restaurant of 2001, is as good as it gets in Maine for fried clams, lobster chowder and, though out of season, blueberry pie. But Pembroke is way up north and you are semi-forgiven if you do not make it. Then again, based on your cross country trek, an extra hundred or two hundred miles ain't no big thing if the rewards are sufficiently tasty. Pictures. Lots of pictures.

OK, I was really worried when your road food trip started out with Thai food, even if it's from the best Thai restaurant this side of Bangkok. But from then on - I'm mega impressed - both by the choices and your managing to get so many miles in between meals. Well done. Very well done. Pics are great too.

A.P.J. Texas Wieners on 13th between Broad and Arch has fish cakes.

Speaking of hot dogs, I also pleaded with Lisa to add Ussingers natural casing franks and their fresh brats to the offering.

I did some research because this seemed way out of line to me. We carry 3 kinds of Boar's Head Frank products, ranging in price from $6.99 to $7.99. The franks we have which are indeed $12.99 are Niman Ranch Fearless Franks, made with hormone/antibiotic free beef. ← Fearing that senility was once again taking over my special little world, I returned to DiBruno Brothers today to recheck the Boars Head Franks pricing. I think Lisa will back me up on this - the pricing label reads as follows: 16 oz of Boar's Head Franks $6.99 1 pound of Boar's Head Franks $12.?? One of those rare times in life when there are two right answers. I suspect that should be worded a little differently to keep the anti price-fixing government types away.

Okay. I just spent $40 plus on just under a pound of liverwurst with onions and just over a pound of cheddar cheese. It's on me. I asked for the ultimate cheddar and the cheesemistress offered up a taste of an english cheddar. Very tasty indeed. I ordered a pound. She lopped a chunk off the wheel, weighed it on the scale. I looked at the cost - $25 a pound. egads, but I was trapped. One of these days I will learn to ask cost per pound prior to comitting. Had liverwurst and cheese for lunch. Both were excellent. So I'm not complaining. But $40 plus for liverwurst and cheese. That could buy me a week of barbecue down south. Now that I've got that out of my system - or at least mostly out of my system - Boar's Head franks for $12 a pound. Geesh. Anyhow, the new DiBruno Brothers is something Center City has long needed. The selection and quality are indeed wonderful.

More cookin' than eatin', but Lodge Cast Iron has an outlet store on TN Rte 66 just south of I40. I stopped by last Sunday - some of their cast iron cookware were on sale at 50 percent off.

I second chicken soup with a good rich chicken broth.

From the Philly Weekly Review: Not sure I'd call that "props." More a "journalist's" simplistic, cliche putdown of a medium she doesn't get. There is more Philadelphia food news reported on eGullet in a day than in the Weekly in a month. Wonder if Lauren McCutcheon has been following any of the other PA Forum threads?

I drove to Bessimer. I lunched at Bright Star. I left well fed, savoring the Southern gentility of another area and harboring no regrets. Beyond that, I finally found the chicken and dumplings of my mind's eye. I have eaten them all over, and some have been very good, but these were the first prepared the way I have always envisioned them. There was one regret actaully. The desserts are homemade and the pies looked especially tempting. But after a cup of Gumbo and a plateful of chicken and dumplings, alas, my capacity was overflowing and no pie for me. Thanks Brooks. Should I return to Bessemer this evening for some of Mr. Sykes barbecued ribs?

Thanks for all the ideas. So far I'm done mega award-winning barbecue at Big Bob Gibson's in Decatur, some of the best country ham I've happened upon at the Jackson Family Restaurant in Madison and a fascinating hot dog from Pete's Famous in Birmingham. Spending the day in Birmingham and open for lunch, dinner and breakfast suggestions.

Thanks for the recommends. I'm in Athens AL this evening trying to figure out how much I can try in a single day. Any other suggestions?

One person's "merely" is another person's "wonderfully, just" What I like so much about Red's is that it is just the lobster piled on a buttered, toasted, New England style hotdog bun. Melted butter or mayo on the side to add at one's pace. Or both, which is the way I like it. There is a downeast synergy to adding both melted butter and mayo to a Red's lobster roll. That said I've come to the realization that there is major additional lobster roll eating required on my part. You all have twisted my arm; gotta get back to Maine this summer. So many lobster rolls still to taste. With all this inspiring talk of lobster rolls, let me drift the discussion a tad. Anyone who researches lobster as lovingly as so many seem to do hereabouts has to take a meal off and head to Bet's Famous Fish Fry in a trailer off the square in Boothbay for a fish sandwich.

Here's a Class from the eGullet Culinary Institute that covers french fries and includes pics.