Daniel

My sister is a vegan so I will be happy to follow this thread.. I recently purchased candle cafe Its the cookbook from a restaurant in NYC, my sister really enjoys.. Havent made anything from here but, it looks good and I admit to liking there food..

Thats like one of those obligatory Silent Santa, your my second cousin, this is your neighbors boyfriend, ooops I forgot about you, type of re-gifts. Actually!!! How well did you know the person that gave you this???? Was this a cousin?

Ethiopia is something that should be addressed immediately... Cant wait to read that on my TIVO description..

I think thats a perfect re-gifter...

Have a great time.. Not food related some of my favorite things to do there we dog sledding and they have this park where you can go inner tubing down a snowy slopes.. Our favorite Bar is right in walking distance to the hotel.. Walk up torwards Toast, make a left and walk down a half a block.. There is this little stone house that has a fire going.. Its really just so cute.. Unfortunately, I am still unable to fly due to ear problems.. I had to exchange Quebec for Philly..

Went here last night.. I havent been here in a few years.. Sure its too crowded, the waiters are average, and the spacing between the tables suck.. But its has some pretty good food.. With started with the Gourges.. I like mine better.. But they were certainly good.. Soup: Then I got the french onion soup and my girl got the seafood soup.. I was extremely surprised that the accoutraments for the seafood soup, did not include cheese.. I have ordered this dish from Le Cirque to a bar in Quebec and have never not received cheese along with the garlic mayo and toasts.. It was just especially surprising to be missing cheese in New Yorks Temple of Fromage.. The french onion was extremely beefy.. It arrived luke warm.. I dont particularly care for this version. Its extremely strong.. Almost eating a demi glace.. Salad: I got the Pig Trotters, the girl got the Hamachi Salad.. A few years back I use to live next to American Place.. It was another restaurant that Brennen owned.. I loved this place.. Sure it was overpriced, but it was great food.. There was this one dish that stood out in my mind.. It was his deconstructed deviled egg.. It was served in a martini glass and had a layer of chopped whites,yolks, cream fresh, caviar, and some crunch stuff.. It was fantastic!!!! I completely made the conection last night after tasting the Pig Trotter.. The trotters were shredded and then deep fried.. Placed over a bed of Mache and these chopped eggs in a sauce.. It was very similar to the taste from the deviled egg dish.. So i was very happy with this.. .However, it was extremely rich and even with the help of my girl we did not finish it.. The Hamachi salad was good.. The quality was obviously terrific.. The problem was it was very Sesame.. The tastes did not really belong on the menu.. Clashed with the other offerings and general feel of the place.. Entree: We split the hangar steak and frites.. The frites are good.. They were very close to being great.. Mabye another minute in the fryer.. Les Halles still has my heart on this subject.. The steak itself was prepared perfectly.. Medium rare, pink and sliced beautifully.. However, I was not a big fan of the sauce it was served on.. Almost tasteless.. It was such a rich gorgeous red, I was expecting tons of flavor.. But it really did nothing either way for the steak.. At 25 bucks for the steak and fries, it was overpriced.. We didnt have dessert.. But we both left full.. With tip the meal was $150... I would go back, or I might just sit at the old smoking section by the bar and just order cheese..

Last night I was just using my IB for mixing drinks.. I put a can of pears with some ice and vodka.. It worked just fine.. And the best part was, no cleaning up the blender!

Uh oh.. I do not "de-turd" them, as David Spade put it in the movie, Tommy Boy.. I didnt think I had to.. I had no problems anytime I have made them.. And I have seen no difference in the taste or quality between mine and the ones served in restaurants.. I think its just an added step,but if it makes you feel better you can soak them.. I guess the corn starch in water trick might work for them..

Chef and Brian, Those just look lovely..

That sounds great Megan.. I saw you used Sherry Vinegar.. Is that something new in your kitchen.. Its such an underrated thing, I love it...

Its been awhile since I ate lunch at work.. Today, I ordered from Portugal BBQ.. I have written about this place before on this thread.. 207 Clark PL Elizabeth NJ 07206 908-289-6554 This place has the best BBQ 1/2 Chicken fries rice combo.. Its just so good.. Anyway, today I tried Picadinho.. Pork bits with shrimp in a garlic sauce.. Served with a huge amount of rice, fries, and pickled vegetables.. I gave a plate of it to a co-worker and still have enough for two lunches tomorrow.. It was 10 bucks and a great bargain... The pork was cooked over the charcoal fire making it taste amazing.. Served with a brown Portugese garlic sauce.. Oh baby.. What a great meal.

I saw a recent episode of Cooking in Brooklyn.. Hosted by Alan Harding.. He was having a sandwich off between local places.. I must say Fernando's spleen sandwich does look excellent as did the chick pea.. That place is on my short list.. I am glad you guys recommend it..

My first place I would tell you is Saul.. saul It has been talked about a lot.. I think it got a star in the Michelin Guide.. Its a good little place.. Second place more casual.. Great little burgers.. Cheap beers.. Schnack Third place for a good canolli, gelatto and ices.. I would tell you to go here.. Fratelli Also a good butcher who also makes sandwiches.. Los Paisanos, located at 162 Smith St. at Bergen Street, is open 8 am to 7 pm, daily.(718) 855-2641.

Do you have recipes, pictures, or better descriptions of this.. Sounds great!

Daniel, a more complete post on this dinner is on the sous vide thread. However, I will share that for some reason my lobster sous vide had a mushy textute and I will need to experiment some more. The tail meat was not bad, but that may have been because I placed it under the broiler for a few minutes, so my guess is that the lobster would have tasted better if broiled, but the shrimp and scallops were superb, as was the lamb. ← That is very interesting.. I wonder how scallops would react if it was just vacum packed with like a citrus.Making it a raw sous vide ceviche.. I see scallops reacting well to the sous vide process..

I forgot to mention.. I also had a cheese course.. I made a Welsh Rarebit in between the Main and Dessert..I used a 5 yr old cheddar and Fergus Henderson's Recipe... With Guiness and Colemans Mustard.. Served with Taylor Flagate 10yr.. I see myself serving hot cheese courses a few different ways.. Great idea!

In between cameras right now.. My girl actually bought me the sony 8.0 guy.. Dont really know how to navigate it at this point.. So, I am pictureless.. Salad: For salad we made mixed green with poached egg, lardons, and mushrooms in a wine sauce.. Truffle vinegar.. Bread: Madolines.. I know thats not how to spell it, but thats my spelling.. Buttermilk, rosemary, garlic, truffles.. Main: Broiled quail in Brandy...Served over parm grits... On the side: Cabbage braised with bacon, onions,champagne, chicken stock, and cream.. Reduced it way down.. Dessert: Chocolate Ice Milk, Chocolate Souffle.. Ice Milk was basically 2 eggs, milk, sugar, chocolate.. No cream, no egg whites, no half and half... Simple and excellent. I added whipped cream from the can.. I had this thing since the last time I used it.. 2 months later, it was as average as it was the las time.. Souffle

Percyn, The lobster and scallops look great.. How would you rate the taste over cooking the normal way using that sauce? Did you see a difference?

My top 10 meals of 2005 are very diverse.. This year my girl and I drove across the country 4 times.. We had gone to a bunch of very expensive place at a bunch of very cheap places.. This year I had the best burger I have ever had, the best wings, the best oysters,the best lobster roll, taco,fried clams,hotdog, chili, the best ribs,custard, the best bbq, the best of a lot of things, including the best restaurant.. Tru.. Here are just some of my favorite meals off the top of my head..In no particular order, but if forced would put Tru first and then Laurie Raphael.. 1)New Years Eve dinner at Laurie Raphael..- Quebec City 2)Dinner at Tru -Chicago 3)Some Muslim Chinese Restaurant-Canton, China 4)Salt Lick BBQ, all you can eat- Texas 5)Dinner at Tasting Room- NYC 6)Any given dinner at Grand Sichuan-NYC 7)Tacos at Asadero Morlan 2- Mexico 8)Green Chile Cheese Burger at Nellies- New Mexico 9)Fried Chicken at Willy Mae's- New Orleans 10)Taiwanese Restaurant- Hong Kong Runners up- 1)White Manna Burgers NJ 2)Blue Hill- NYC 3)Spicey and Tastey - NYC 4)Europea- Montreal 5)Totonnos- NYC 6)Obryckey's- Baltimore,MD 7)Lenny and Joe's Fish Tale- CT 8)Saka Gura-NYC 9)Onera-NYC 10)Luizza's-NO 11)Crescent City SteakHouse- NO 12)Alinea-Chicago 13)Lems- Chicago 14)Moto- Chicago 15)The Place- CT 16)Red Eats- Maine 17)Peter Lugers-NYC 18)Morimotos- PA 19)Denny's Beer Barrel Pub-PA 20)Devi- NYC 21)The Patio-Chicago 22)Pats- Philly Most terrible meals of 2005: 1)Aruns Thai- Chicago 2)Jack in the Box-AZ 3)El Indio- San Diego 4)Room Service- St. Lukes Hospital 5)Rooney's Ocean Crab House- Long Branch, NJ 6)China Bowl- Edison New Jersey

I hate this place.. As someone said its a safe alternative to Red Lobster.. And for me, not eating is my preferred alternative to City Crab.. You cant help but feel cheated leaving this place..

Please... This depiction isnt as accurate as it is nostalgic.

Gorgeous Bryan.. I see you are taking advantage of coming home and cooking... Looks like an amazing dinner and I am sure you family is as impressed as I am..

Ling, Merry Christmas! About the tiramisu... Looks too involved.. Would it be better off called something else, without it being in competition with prior memories.. Whats in it?

Great stuff Percyn... I had to comment, I drink that Bordeux a lot... Do you like it, is there something you better you would suggest..

I am thinking about Bobby's and the only thing I come up with is maybe you misunderstood the restaurant name.. Perhaps he was referring to Bubby's Restaurant Bar...