=Mark

The opposite of the dessert letdown can be found at the Jamaican restaurant Blue Marlin in Bradley Beach. Not only is the Caribbean cuisine great but his Summer Desserts are fabulous. Roy Reid the owner is a native of Jamaica and started in the restaurant field as pastry chef at the Channel Club and the Fromagerie. His fruit tarts are great!

I'd say this is comparable to the number of people claiming sensitivity to MSG.

I can never get the Excel macros to do what I want, the cells I want relational become static and vice versa...

There seems something specific to cell phones or their users that ticks people off. Prior to cell phones you could do anything while driving; fiddle with the radio or heater/AC, shuffle through tapes, turn around and talk to kids in back seat, read the paper, put on makeup and mess with hair. All of a sudden people were driving and talking on their cell phones and if you believed the hype and the media they were collectively flying off the road and smashing into each other with abandon. It was never suggested that laws be past against eating Big Macs or fiddling with the radio while driving, but for some reason driving and talking on the phone was considered horribly dangerous. Why was there not a similar correlation to CB radio use 25 years ago?

Capsaicin, the chemical that induces the burn in chile peppers can engender a tolerance like many other substances such as alcohol or other drugs. The more of it you use, the greater the quantity that can be tolerated. Also, the old supposition that you are "burning out" your taste buds is patently false. Capsaicin affects the heat receptors (not just in your mouth either, anyone who has prepared hot chiles and touched a sensitive part of the body knows this ), but does not affect the taste buds. It is true that for those not acclimated to very hot foods, the flavor of a dish can be lost in the blaze, but this is not to say there is no reason to want to eat hotter foods. As one becomes tolerant of hotter foods, it is not as if you are developing a greater tolerance for pain, it is simply that greater amounts of capcaicin no longer elicit the same degree of heat. For those who are tolerant of VERY hot foods, they simply do not experience the heat. At this level, contrary to what many people suppose, the heat addicted person can discern many MORE flavors than those who can't handle the heat. Each of the chiles and spices have their own unique flavor, and once heat is no longer an issue these tastes that were previously hidden behind the burn are now very evident. This is why if one wants to really appreciate the foods of countries where hot and spicy is a way of life there really is no choice than to accustom oneself to the heat.

I suppose this would follow thru if the galley on board the Sub actually prepared the sandwiches...

For Cabrales I was thinking more along the lines of a show detailing the humerous uses of eggs...

Roast pig is roasted in a pig...

Aaaaahhh! They're gonna outlaw pizza! Nina, grab your avatar and head for the hills!

This ties in to my overall feeling about dining out. You have a limited budget, do you try a new place for a first time or do you go for the tried and true? You've decided on where to dine, do you again go for the dish you know you love, or try something new/exotic. A lot is going to depend on your mood, but I do have to agree that how the selections are presented on the menu as well as how the waitstaff describes them will affect my ultimate decision. As for the topic in question, if you are wondering whether the NJ dining population "Gets It," I suggest you spend some time promoting fine dining out in western Pa.

I'm told by reliable friends that the Molly Pitcher in Red Bank has a phenomenal Sunday brunch but have to admit I've not tried it. I understand it is by reservation. Ediot: oops, just noticed this is on the Pacific Northwest board...

They're free to charge whatever the market will bear as at this time of year they go for $4 to $5 per pound wholesale. This is similar to a local seafood place that sells a pound of King Crab legs for $26 when I can get them at Shop Rite for $11.99

From the "Mango Mikes" review (Mango Mikes served me possibly the worst dried up burnt rack of ribs I've ever had the pleasure of having wrapped to dump in the dumpster out back...): For the Cajun NY Strip Steak: "The Cajun spice makes this all Caribbean"

So, which do you feel would be a more threatening weapon, a corkscrew or a broken in half wine bottle?

Gotta go with Blue Marlin, was there for lunch 2 days ago. Great jerk pork! Blue Marlin Website

It depends on your definition. If by cooking you mean heating the food, then no, curing does not involve heating. If you mean changing the physical composition of a food through chemical means OR by heating then you're getting closer. Think of curing ham as pork ceviche...

It's safe, but just contains way too much fat to be enjoyable. I attend a BBQ every year down in rural tidewater Va. and the host of it runs a working farm, is a jack of all trades and master of damn near all of them. One of his specialties is cold smoked cured country hams. These are not your wimpy supermarked hams injected with god knows what. These suckers start out at 20 to 30 lbs. each. These are cold smoked then aged for 18 to 24 months. Once done they are perfectly edible without cooking. They are essentially domestic proscuitto, and the taste rivals that of any imported proscuitto I've had. A few of the folks kind of blanched when after enjoying it were told it was uncooked pork... For more info Check out Dan's Smokehouse PS - Oh yeah, Dan makes his own bacon too. If you follow the above link you'll find it.

Atlantic City has it's own magazine?

Sorry, I gotta leave that insane stuff to the professionals! I'm into Hot & Spicy for my own enjoyment and occasional culinary bungee jumping, not for macho pissing contests (should that be flaming pooting contests? ) Doug Barnhart was featured on a TV Food network segment filmed at a local Chilehead Hotluck chomping down whole habaneros. He's also 3 time champion of the Bowers Chile Festival Jalapeno eating contest. I'll let him duke it out with Biker Billy... As far as heat levels, Texas A&M has been developing a low heat jalapeno for years called the TAM Jalapeno. It is for companies like Old El Paso, Pace and Taco Bell, so the flavor of jalepenos could be infused into their products while maintaining a low level of heat. They are also bred to be more resistant to common viruses known to attack peppers. This has been anathema to many Chileheads as there is little to prevent cross pollenation of these emasculated pods to the good stuff. Also, they are visually identical to normal jalepenos, so folks in the wholesale/retail distribution system can not tell them apart without actually tasting them. There has been discussion on the ChileHead mailing list about the possibility of this causing the noted lack of heat in many batches of jalapenos but it remains unresolved as there are many factors involved in the heat levels in harvested chiles. For instance, a particularly good growing season with good amounts of rain and lots of sun can result in milder chiles. Plants seem to react to being stressed by increasing heat levels in the peppers, so drought, predation by animals and other stress inducers can up the fire factor. Hopefully the lack of rain here in the mid Atlantic area over the last month will make for a toasty batch of chiles.

I'm debating whether this thread be nominated the "Number the Paragraph" hall of fame or "Reduce dining experience to an Equation" award...

A bacon lettuce and tomato sandwich in August here in NJ with thick sliced Schaller & Weber double smoked bacon cooked till smushy crisp (all bacon lovers understand this), fresh NJ tomatoes, a couple crunchy leaves of Romaine lettuce on double toasted Arnold Hearty White bread scheared with a moderate layer of good mayo and several turns of fresh cracked pepper... (the appropriate orgasmic smiley does not exist).

It is not a popular opinion on this site, but there are those who believe that the incessant competitive grading of restaurants leads to the corruption of what can and should be a generously communal experience.If I may, this is awfully close to comments made on one of my BBQ lists about competition BBQ (Yes, John, I can sense you shudder... ). There is a contingent that holds strong opinion on the regional variations in traditional local barbecue. They are concerned that these increasingly popular competitions using "Newfangled tin can and charcoal smokers" are misleading the public as to what "true" barbecue is. They worry that the rules and such that limit the final product to a standard, predictable result will tend to diminish the differences that make regional styles distinct. I know this is only marginally on topic here, but the arguments as to the nuances of foreign cuisines being lost on the public at large seemed to echo a similar theme on another food related forum. Anyone out there ever try smoking Beetons?

I think the true essence of creativity in any cuisine can only be evenly judged by the methods by which those immersed in the traditions of their culture prepare, cook and present their Beetons. Anything else is attempting to compare apples and oranges.

Article in NY Times that lists some NY Thai places that are known for their flavor and heat. Clickify this.

This has got to be one of the absolute all time definitions of foodie mentality! "Yawn... I'm bored. I think I'll crack 4 dozen eggs for no particular reason..."