Daniel

Olive Garden 2 Times Square, New York, NY 10036 Phone: 212.333.3254 I have been bombarded with Olive Garden commercials.. So funny especially because of the outright stereotypes they portray.. "My cheap deago uncle did something tonight he never did, he opened his wallet" Or all these images of the old world simpleton getting his one birthday wish of remembering the old country by eating here on one of there last birthdays.. The same way they super-imposed Nat King Cole into unforgettable, I feel like they are going to do the Saturday Night Fever dinner scene into an Olive Garden commercial.. I can see Travolta, saying "watch my breadsticks" I have been to a ton of shitty Italian Restaurants in New York.. I think its time for me to go to an Olive Garden, just so I can see what the measuring stick would be.. From the website: "Welcome to Olive Garden’s Culinary Institute of Tuscany. Olive Garden’s Culinary Institute of Tuscany, located in the heart of Tuscany, Italy in a restored 11th century village, is where Olive Garden’s chefs learn the secrets of great Italian cooking - like how to combine fresh ingredients - to create authentic Italian dishes that you’ll enjoy sharing with your family and friends." Sounds better then Rocco's to me.. Honestly speaking, its a chain, millions of people have eaten here.. This place keeps growing.. Is it that bad???? I think going here will make me a better person.. I am not going here expecting to like it, but I might be surprised.. At least I can say, I would rather go to the Olive Garden then this so and so.. Does anyone have a list of New York Italian Restaurants that have lost to the Olive Garden..

Walked by tonight to look at the place.. It was closed, so I didnt get anything.. If I didnt know Keller, I would have thought it was an Au Ban Pan or whatever you call them.. Todd, Good call on the Parisi.. One of the better sandwiches going.. IML, I agree with what you say on Keller going corporate, but unfortunately, his name doesnt sell like a celebrity.. He might be the best Chef in America, but he is only appreciated in foody circles.. A guy that says bam, or some spikey haired pint sized Arnold Shwartznigger, draws the crowds.. I am going to draw from the only thing I know, to make this comparison.. Keller is like the FAO Shwartz of the food world... Nobody outside Fao's Flagship store in New York, is willing to pay heafty prices for the same product.. It might work in New York because FAO has the Big Nutcracker Statue, or the elevators, or the huge space.. But when they tried the same outlay in smaller spaces in stripmalls through out the country, no one knew that they should have been paying more for the same product.. Keller isnt going to impress anyone with his name.. So sure, it might work in Time Warner, with a captive audience spending vacation money, or everyday upper middle class wastefulness.. But even if it does work in the Time Warner with the high rents while not pushing a catchy concept, it doesnt have the legs to go National.. I am all for going corporate or "selling out", because I believe, people really want a good product.. Thomas Keller, is a genius and has a lot to offer the world besides the elite few that afford his restaurants.. The question is always, can the genius relate to the masses.. One more thing: The French Laundry or Per Se is impossible to get into.. There are seceret numbers, month waiting lists.. You pretty much need to give a sample of your DNA to spend 500 bucks at this guys place.. But, In Las Vegas,tourist capital of the world, on the same night there is a three hour wait at P.F Changs, or the Cheesecake Factory, I could walk in to his lower costing restaurant Bouchon, and get a table.. I mean, that sort of huge divide cant be denied..

If you want to know the pros and cons of making pasta in a bread maker, its simple.. Con,Cleaning the bread maker.. Con, not being able to see it to make adjustments.. Con, did I mention cleaning the bread maker. Hands are the best tools in the world..

Blood?

Tommy, I would love to hear your comparison.. Between the two..

Phaelon56, I made a comparison and said that the BBQ here is better then any I have had in the city.. I have been to Daisy May's, Tenesse Mountain, Blue Smoke, Dinosaur, Bone Lick Park,Brother Jimmy's,Dallas BBQ, Virgils, Soul Fixins, Tenesse Mountain, That Texas BBQ place in Murry Hill, and Pearson's when it was opened.. Straight comparison between ribs, brisket, chicken, and beef ribs.. Front Street wins. If I were only eating sides I would go to Blue Smoke..

Szechuan Ace 732.937.9330 1721 State Route 27 Somerset. New Jersey There were four people in my party, so we were able to try some different things on the menu.. I must say, while reading the menu posted on the window, I was not expecting much. .I was happy to see there was another menu, with some more interesting choices.. Here was a little bite they brought to the table.. It was pretty good.. A little spice..Mung beans and soy beans? Cold Sesame Noodles.. This was a decent version.. Nothing special.. The best part were the noodles.. Served al dente.. We also had the Sichuan Dumplings.. These were fairly good. A nice garlicky sauce.. But missing the spice from the Sichuan Pepper.. I am always disappointed when a restaurant claiming to be Sichuan Cuisine, doesnt use the Sichuan Pepper.. Spinach Tofu Soup: The soup was good.. Nothing special, but certainly solid.. Pork w/ noodles.. This dish was pretty average.. It tasted like a bland chili with linguini.. Again not bad, but not that good.. Lacking in the heat and flavor composition I expect in Sichuan Food.. Next was a spicy pork dish.. Little slivers of pork cooked with a spicy seranno pepper sauce.. Again, I expect the spice to come at least partially from Sichuan Peppercorns.. At least fool me and use a Sichuan Oil.. This dish had some heat and some good flavors.. Tea smoked duck.. My favorite meat dish of the meal.. The smoke flavor was evident, but not enough.. The duck was crisp, but really fatty and kind of short on the meat.. Chinese Okra: This was my favorite thing we ordered.. It was really super.. They prepared this extremely well.. I loved the corn starchy light garlic sauce they served this with.. A great Okra presentation.. Although it might seem like I am bashing the place.. I am not.. I just happened to love Sichuan Food.. I have had eaten it in Sichuan, I have had it in many places.. If it was just billed as regular American Chinese Food, I would have been less harsh.. This place is good.. Far from great.. If you are with in a 10 minute drive, it probably will be some of the better Chinese Food you can get..

Bruce Bruce Bruce!!! Nelly Nelly Nelly!!! Congratulations.. Sorry you guys had to go through all the trouble of competing.. We could have called the contest before it started.. I wished I didnt miss the competition, it would have been great to see you guys in action.. I wonder if there are any articles written on the event..

1)I was going suggest this as well as waffles and ice cream sandwiches, funnel cakes, fries, milk shakes and lemonades.. There is money to be made in serving sugar and water at a ridiculous mark up.. 2)Mexican corn and taco truck.. Make breakfast burritos and at lunch make tacos.. 3)I think copying the basic menu of a New Brunswick Grease Truck would certainly be a good thing as well.. I have a couple years of flea market experience.. I use to have booths and sell to vendors at the Englishtown Flea Market.. There was a semi decent BBQ Truck that did a lot of business.. There was always a line, half because of the people, the other reason was the guy was painfully slow.. Besides that truck , there really was just a few run of the mill "roach coaches", serving basic cuisines.. We would all show up to get table space around 5 am.. At this time we would get breakfast.. So there were Bacon egg and Cheeses.. Taylor hams and cheese, hamburgers, coffee, fries... Then the same truck would start serving lunch to the crowds arriving... So if you are planning on making a full day out of it, you should make a breakfast menu too.. So the waffle idea might work for breakfast and lunch.. Also, I dont know who frequents the Market over there.. The race or ethnicity of the customers or income levels..

Nu, so this schlemiel schlepped into the schlockmeister's store to schnorr some schmaltz. "You shnook! Shmoozing the local schmuck for a schmear? You got no mazel, Shlimazel!" Do I pass the test, Teacher? ← Fresser, I think you prooved your no shlub!

Geeze.. So first they came for the smokers, then the came for the drinkers, what else fun can you do in Austin... Where are the dancing police? Plus all that fatty food in BBQ.. They might test your cholestrol level before you can eat some brisket!

This what I believed schmear to mean as well..

I have not been to this restaurant, but I have been to there other one uptown..A The place is called Ivo & Lulu...A great way to keep the cost down, its BYOB.. I have brought a bottle of scotch and beers to A.. The food is pretty good, the scene is young , not annoying though.. But its a cool idea.. The kitchen consists of a couple of convection ovens and a hot plate..

More donut like than an eclair.. I would say this is a lardy donut with a really creamy icing.. I am now on a mission to make Long Johns.. If anyone has been to or has access to the Boyer's IGA in Orwigsburg PA and a time machine, please let me know.. I will also settle out of court for a great recipe..

The vegetables I can get here in NY.. Its the ring bologna, the summer sausage, the homemade chips, the pies, the cheeses, and other things I wouldnt buy at shopright. Also the meat has to be a lot better.. But I will definately check out the vegetable guy next time. I actually just picked up some bok choy at my local Korean Market tonight..

Whoops.. I completely forgot to explain the salad correctly.. There was some drinking going on last night.. But the cubes are actually creme cheese.. I was really shocked.. I asked the waitress if this is found in Japan.. She said, it was the chefs creation an American twist.. Well it was fabulous.. The prices were for one stick.. In the beginning I didnt know the portion size, so I went two orders of each.. At the end, I realized that I could try more things only ordering one stick..(a revelation ) To tell you the truth, the soft bone doesnt stand out in my memory.. It was more texture then taste I believe.. I believe it tasted of the charcoal and grill..

Hey Bruce, Welcome to Egullet!! Thats great you are here..Looking forward to hearing all your secretes. For your second post would you mind giving us the recipe for you dry rub and bbq sauce? Seriously, what a great place you have.. Looking forward to going there for many years to come.. Can you wish someone Mazel Tov on there BBQ place?

Wow.. What a great place.. Thank you all for suggesting it.. Arrived here at 530 last night to a fairly empty restaurant.. By the time we left the place was in full swing.. We started with some cold dishes.. We ordered a few things and everything came out at a nice steady pace.. Raddish Salad with Quail Egg: Very tasty.. My least favorite thing and it was still very good.. Next we had another salad with quail eggs.. This was bitter greens served with these little fried fish.. This was amazing.. I could eat this every day and be a happy man (for a couple of months at least) Close up shot of the fishy: Bitter Melon with chicken and sesame seeds with a ponzu dressing.. I loved this also.. The bitter melon was um bitter.. But a lot of the bite was off set by the ponzu.. A must try.. Started with some non meat items: Ginko nuts.. Salted and grilled.. Next we had grilled eggplant with miso:Awesome.. They use this charcoal from Japan.. The flavor of the grill and smoke was absorbed by the eggplant.. Giving it a charred taste.. Bacon wrapped Enoki Mushrooms.. This was awesome also.. The crispy bacon wrapped around the chewy mushroom.. Pure genius to think of this.. Lets take a look inside: We then moved on to chicken.. We got chicken hearts, chicken tail, chicken neck, chicken knee, chicken soft bone.. Some were interesting, some were fabulous..My two favorites were the neck and knee.. Heart: Neck: Knee: Soft Bone: It was ok.. It was most likely boiled and then grilled.. Two types of shiso wrapped in chicken served with a red bean paste.. I love shiso so this I really enjoyed too.. Then extremely full I had to order the pork dishes.. There were only two on last night so I got them both.. Pork with scallion and Pork with onions.. They were good, but this place seems to really specialize in chicken.. I love this place.. I cant wait to go back.. There are many offerings I was too full to try.. They have a whole section of Chicken Sashimi that was unavailable last night.. The service is excellent, very attentive and knowledgeable. They have Japanese Beer on tap and a nice selection of inexpensive Sake.. Thanks again..

Well said and very thoughtful.

This was out of the Fergus book dont know if it was exactly.. Parsley salad with capers, onions, and a sherry vinegar..

Something just came up and I am unable to go to dinner this evening.. I have a 9 o'clock reservation. Judging from Tupac's last post I dont think its too hard to go to.. Anyone want my reservation before I cancel?

It is less “scenic” when exiting at 13 with a right turn at the first light on Atlantic street, a right turn on 3rd avenue, a left turn on 1st street and then a right turn on Elizabeth Ave. The on street parking is plentiful and no problem.. They soon will have a fenced in parking lot within the next month. Can’t put down asphalt when it is this cold. Also you have a really nice more formal restaurant down the street called Manolo's... The Sopranos film the restaurant scenes at this location.. Sure its a rough neighborhood, but there are clear lines of where not to go.. Going from car to restaurant is no problem.. I work right in the area where people might be not feel comfortable driving.. Most of my restaurant reviews are from places in this area and I have never had a problem..

Sounds like a great place to go for brunch or lunch one lazy weekend.. Has anyone seen the difference between the two menus..

Wow.. Great photos as always.. Looks like an awesome 48 hours.. Thanks for the photos of Amada.. That is on our list the next time we go out..

Hi Kim, Where is the Kingston Market?