Daniel

Wow.. how pretty.

That sounds like a great plan of attack Jaymes..

About 5 years ago I caught my delivery guy urinating in the stairwell of my building.. Thts a bizarre delivery experience.. My doorman buzzed me and told me he was coming.. I waited outed in the hall and watched him walk in the stairwell.. I walked after him to find him peeing.. Recently when having some people over I had hired a few people to help with the party.. One was this cute Spanish girl who spoke no English.. I am friendly with one of the delivery guys from the grocery store.. So when he came by to deliver more beer, I introduced the two of them.. He hung out and had some ceviche, had a beer and got her number.. I didnt find out the end result.. These are a couple that come to mind. Edit to add: I delivered for this Italian Restaurant in College Park Maryland and for this CHeesesteak Place.. Delivering cheesesteaks and pizza to college kids, while in College.. I could write a book about that..

You are in Maryland.. Make crab macaroni and cheese for a side with the burgers..

Torakris, Looks like you are having a wonderful trip.. I have been enjoying your blog.. Thank you for sharing this with us all.

It is.. Its a lot of fun.. They open at 8 I think most nights.. I would double check.

Haha.. If ever there were a more perfect time to throw that one out.. The timing of a true proffessional she has..

I cant rememeber what was next to the smelts. .I am thinking some sort of fish paste or spread.. Asian Brewer, how has it changed in the last couple of years..I have been going for a long time and havent really noticed anything.. Although, we usually go to drink and food isnt the most important thing then..

My visit to Bistro Du Vent was my first unpleasant experience with them .. I hated this restaurant and felt it was really so different then anything Batali had done before.. Certainly the cooking, but it also it seemed cold and loveless.. And the reason why I appreciate Batali places is the endless care that seems to go into everything.. I see the same sort of approach at Del Posto that I experienced at Bistro Du Vent..

Decibel 240 E 9th St New York, (212) 979-2733 I have been going here for over 5 years.. Its a fun subterranean Japanese Sake Bar/Restaurant.. Very dark with funky music and a young crowd.. Behind the bar there stands a man in a tiny space, who is making the food for every order.. Entrance: Cook: We started with a few beers and a couple of different types of unfiltered sake.. The going clockwise at 1 oclock you have squid pickled and sliced very thin, you have sharkfin and jellyfish, and some octopus.. All the dishes were served cold.. Next we had broiled smelts.. They were deboned and we ate the entire fish.. These were great.. This was my favorite thing we had.. Perfect scallops.. This was my first stop on a long evening so the sauce escapes me.. It was wonderful. Next stop was momofuku..

Thanks again everyone.. I am cutting and rolling by hand... Its the easiest way for me right now..

Hey thanks Ludja.. You seem like you have done this before What do you think the best way to make the spaetzle.. Should I use a grater or a colander.. Also should I have my dough cooled or room temp when doing it?

I am making fresh spaetzle for the first time.. I am boiling and then frying... I have the dough made already.. What is the best way to prepare it.. I am going to boil for a few seconds and then place in an ice bath.. Should I keep the spaetzle in the ice bath for a couple of hours until its ready to be fried.. Or should I just add some olive oil and leave in a bowl in the fridge?

It's not 3 yet.. But at 1 am I will add this.. We are making this dinner for tomorrow night.. So we have a lot of things laying around.. Plus I dont like to see my cast iron go to bed without some grease on it... I fried some double smoked bacon until crisp.. I took a circle of bread and dipped it into bacon fat.. I then added the round to an already hot cast iron pan... I then took some lobster knuckle meat and fried it in the bacon fat.. On top of the bread disc I placed bacon, lobster, orange creme fraiche, and red currants.. Used a water bottle cap for my round.. Both are great shots...

Jason P, What was your experience with them at the Water Taxi Beach.. Did you have a green chile cheese burger.. Would you do it differently then how it was prepared..

One more suggestion.. I was just at a dinner party wednesday night.. They had radishes cups hollowed out and filled with scallop ceviche being passed around.. You ate the whole thing in one little bite.. It was awesome..

Hey guys.. I didnt feel like writing last night.. Above I have inserted my reviews..

Japonais 111 E 18th St 212-260-2020 Went here tonight with my girl. Without reservations we were quickly seated in the upstairs lounge.We ordered a bunch of things off the bar menu.. I started with a Manhattan.. Started with the lamb carpaccio.. This dish was beautiful.. On top were little pieces of toasted garlic.. The sauce a little sweet, but really let the wonderful taste of the lamb come through.. I really liked this dish.. Hamachi: The hamachi my girl just loved.. It was in a sesame yuzu sauce, with tobiko.. She said the pieces were cut really well.. Looks like it was all belly.. We then had tuna flat bread: This was good too.. Crispy flat bread, served with ahi tuna, mochi cheese and anchovy sauce.. It was crunchy, crispy and everything went well together.. Great bar food.. Little spicey seasoning on the side.. Always love to get to play a little.. Kitchens tasting: Chef's Special Tasting: toro tartare, squid with sea urchin sauce and monkfish foie gras wrapped with octopus and hirame.. This was served a beautiful plate.. Everything was top notch.. Toro Tartare.. As good as most high end places.. High quality fish. This was my favorite of the trio.. Squid in a uni sauce.., It was a simple sauce that really allowed the freshness of the uni to come through.. Served with shiso steams, which I have never had before.. I love the leaves, and thought it was good use from the kitchen to use the stems they must have.. Really enjoyed it.. Monkfish foie gras wrapped with hirame (flounder?) and the other piece of was octopus wrapped around monkfish foie.. I like the texture of the octopus and the flavor of the hirame better.. I also liked the caviar and tobiko that topped the dish.. Wasabi tobiko- This was really average.. My least favorite of the dishes. The tobiko had a weak taste of wasabi and just was really average. Table next to us gave us a lobster spring roll and a salmon sushi: Crab claws.. Tasted like fried crab claws.. For a restaurant being opened for a few days, it was running pretty smoothly.. The waitress was very nice.. We ordered things one at a time.. The people next to us ordered everything at once and all there 6 or 7 dishes came together.. There was about a 5 to 10 minute wait for things to come out of the kitchen.. Which is impressive.. And everything was prepared well.. There were many dishes we didnt try that we would like to... The whole sushi menu looked very interesting. The room downstairs seemed really hectic and sceney..(But it was also the first friday opened) I dont like large busy places, but if you like this type of scene, the food is certainly good..

I just posted this duck quesadilla in the 3 am thread.. I was drinking so I dont recall the recipe.. But I would smoke my own duck.. And then do something nice with it..

Do like a cooked duck thing then.. A duck quesadilla or a t-basil duck spring roll... Or duck on skewers with a basil dipping sauce.. Or little duck pizza's.. And replace that for the ceviche..

I was thinking you were snobbish about grammar..

Cheaper then going to Nellies Cafe however.. My next road trip is in March and I cant wait that long..

"Based on all the foregoing, unless something is seriously wrong with the food (any of which I have yet to try), I wonder if this place isn't a victim of the expectations raised by those behind it. In other words, if an unknown opened a restaurant of this nature, with this kind of menu (and sheer multiplicity of options, in terms of food and price), I think people might treat it very differently." I said about the place from my experience, its an above average Italian food that is highly over priced.. I called it above average because I was giving him the benefit of the doubt.. However, my girlfriend did not like one of her dishes at all.. It was poorly made.. My cousin's liver was overcooked.. Also, my parents who wouldnt know Mario B if he was our waiter were less impressed then I was.. They have been to Babbo a bunch of times, but arent concerned or know who was the chef.. They do know good food however.. My father described the service as less then acceptable.. And both parents felt there food was average. But again, you could be right, I just wanted to tell you where I was coming from..

Dining off the menu. I have never heard of that.. I have heard of people making substitutions, but there are people who will at a top restaurant make changes? Why go to a particular chef, if dont want his food.. I am not a gourmet snob, I am a food fan.. Snob seems negative. I think my appreciation is a positive thing, keeping me from building bombs in my basement..

What, what.. I am not ignoring Jason.. I am researching and using all the information he gave me.. Then I am coming up with a plan of attack.. Geeze you guys.. Besides my obsession with food, I happen to work 9 hour days, have a two hour commute, and have a six year old. But back to the chiles.. I have found a site that sells frozen peppers too.. Mine are a 5lb bag of frozen chiles for 58 bucks plus whatever shipping is.. Then I have also found a fresh 5lbs of chiles for 16 bucks plus shipping.. That like Jason said, will be ready in like 5 to 6 weeks.. Hmm.. I could definitely see having some of the cost defrayed.. Let me think about the best way to do it.. But something tells me it might have to turn into an all out chile festival..