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I live in NYC. Have looked all over for this lovely salt to no avail. Large flat crystals that crunch and then disappear. I've only had it at sushi restaurants. Can it be ordered on the internet?

I had a go at tafelspitz last night. We started by poaching a brisket in very lightly salted water with carrot and onion, skimming as we went along to create a mostly clear broth. The vegetables were removed as they became weary and new ones were intoduced. We cooked the brisket for about four hours in this way. About forty minutes before serving we added nicely sliced celeriac, carrot and leek. At around this time in a separate pot (so as not to dirty the broth) I poached beef ribs, from the rib chop but minus the chop, that had only a little meat on them. When they had leached all their blood and were mostly cooked I added them to the main pot. The meat and vegetables were removed and the broth lightly seasoned. We sliced the brisket, served with a ladle of broth, a rib, a few chucks of vegetable and a nice spoonful of fresh horseradish sauce (horseradish grated on a box grater, creme fraiche, heavy cream, salt, pepper, sugar and lemon juice). Tafelspitz is a simple thing that trades on nuance. A delicate hand (and lots of experience) can make this a very special dish.

I keep reading and then obsessing over a short essay by Josef Wechsburg called "Tafelspitz in the Hofrat." Maybe I've got the name a little wrong. In any case the essay is about the heyday of boiled beef in Austria. I really want to try cooking beef in this way but the essay sadly give little instruction from the procedural end. Does anyone out there have any Tafelspitz experience they'd like to share?

I guess I was referring to how good the burger was. Also while the bun looks big, it's actually pretty fluffy and will-o-the-wisp. If I could walk two blocks in January and eat a shack burger I would. . . but then I couldn't have a relatively uncreative (in a good way) chopped salad or a pickled egg. In re the fries, maybe they've changed them. I don't know if you're familiar with the ones at the Spotted Pig. They were like the ones there. Also as far as their beef and doneness, I always ask if the meat is ground at the restaurant. If it isn't I ask for medium well. If it is and the place seems like a good one food safety wise then I feel ok eating medium rare. Truth be told, I think if the farce is good and burger meat is essentially that, when it is taken seriously, then medium well should still be plenty juicy and delicious.

Well I've gotta chime in with a good word as all these reports aren't so much of institutional problematics as much as operational ones and the joint is just getting up and running. My burger came out cooked just right. I found it--and I apologize for saying it this way--not quite as good as the shake shack burger. That's high praise. Even better, they have pickled eggs. The eggs need some tuning but the fact that they're there at all is just great. They make shoestring fries. I don't totally understand the allure of them. I look like a pig when I eat them trying to get a mouthful worth chewing. In any case I'll go back and I look forward to the day when I do. Servers were excellent and not bumbling in my experience, the space is cool. BTW I think the owners also own Republic Noodles.

That sounds fantastic.

I'm not Japanese. I've wandered into Tsukushi a number of times and had an excellent experience. Never felt a bit unwelcome. It's a really nice littlespot. The NYT did a laudatory piece on the restaurant a couple of years ago. I can't remember in what part, maybe 25 and under.

The menu has some things from dinner but also a nice skate wing, a hamburger that has already garnered attention from people who like to write about hamburgers. . . and some other things. Best to go to their website for the rest of the skinny: http://www.prunerestaurant.com/ The prettiest thing on the menu at the moment has to be the grated radish with trout roe and browned butter. Zoinks.

Prune is now open for lunch.

Hit M-fuko Ssam for lunch today and once again I was astounded to find that there was no line around the block to get in. What the fuck people. This is some of the best food in the universe. I can't get enough. I've got porky kimchee fiery ssam coming out my ears and I keep going back for more.

Thanks everybody!! In the meantime I've started with a base formula (which seems strong to me but I did it anyway): 3 cups vinegar (I did 1.5 cups of L'Estornell, 1.5 white) 1 cup water 1/3 cup sugar (refined) 1/3 cup salt (kosher) To this I added 4 large cloves of garlic, peeled 3 medium shallots, peeled 2 small fennel bulbs, quartered black pepper seeds anise seed mustard seed cumin

I am quite fond of pickles and adore eggs, however until two nights ago when I ate one that tasted strongly of red wine vinegar at a fine new NYC restaurant called Stand, I'd never eaten a pickled egg. The eating of it has motivated me to pickle some of my own. What I know so far: the base for the cure is salt, sugar, vinegar the duration is 2 days to 3 weeks I'd love to hear how people pickles theirs and in addition of experiences people have had in eating them in midwest bars or elsewhere.

Thanks for the recs. Ended up at Blue Ribbon with low expectations. The interior design is nice. Also very fresh uni. Bad aji, blue crab, oysters way over-sauced, ama-ebi real rough. I ate a lot of ginger tonight trying to clear away bad fishy tastes.

What's at the top of the heap BoerumHill/Ft Green/Park Slope/Carroll Gardens area? Thanks.

. . . mmmmmm love that kool aid.

On my first visit to Zabb City, I chatted up the waiter about Sri Pra and the Zabb Queens location. Asked about how they tuned the spicing on 13th street and then said make it regular spicy for them and, man I could barely eat the food. It was HOT. It's great having this joint just around the corner.

Esca does an uni pasta--pasta la guitarra--that is my favorite pasta dish in NYC. The uni, in quantity, is added just at the end, stirred gently into the pasta. As an aside, I was at yasuda last night and ate quite a lot of Santa Barbera uni. It was sweet rich and delicious. I think it's a great moment to make an uni meal.

I've been eating there lots. Not sripra but still very excellent. Can be mind-bendingly spicy if you ask for it. They deliver!

Had lunch at the Union Square location some months ago. Didn't expect much and was really quite happily surprised. Particularly by the sauces. There is some rigor going on back in that kitchen.

Bruniology--the study of Bruni--is an inherently hilarious activity.

The Shochu boom looks to be petering out in Japan. It was "IN" in 2004, but took a nosedive the following year. Flash-in-the-pan it seems. Wine is still popular. Actually, there seems to be a VINEGAR boom going on. Supposedly its healthy, but the idea of drinking vinegar grosses me out. ← I've had a vinegar drink at Hagi a couple of times. Odd but good. Not for gulping. It was a vinegar infusion if memory serves.

"Uhm, excuse me miss, there's a dead turtle in my drink. . . "

Turtle penis shochu. That's gotta be the silver bullet. Now me, whenever I'm offered something that works to that end (as it were), like when I'm offered "roots" in Jamaica I always ask if they have something that produces the inverse result.

What exactly is going on, the (biggish) turtles are swimming in booze? Or is it soup?

As the sage says, "Strong like small turtle!"