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handmc

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  1. Trattoria Vittorio's Italian Cuisine

    Suburbia Shopping Center

    50 Glocker Way

    Pottstown PA

    610-323-3725

    Replacing Cafe Mosaic this little italian BYOB brought to you by the owners of Fellini Cafe is a nice addition to Northern Chester County dining considering there was no where to get a decent plate of pasta north of 113 until now.

    Service was good, food was good, sorry no camera, I wasn't planning to going to dinner.

    Overall a pleasant experience.

    I will bring my camera back soon.

  2. Mitch, how'd you choose your restaurants? I'm surprised that you didn't stop by (my favorite) the Clam Box in Ipswich, and glad you didn't waste time at Woodman's.

    Chris, there's always this topic. And, between that and other research, I came up with the four places above (though we did end up at the Lobster Pool in Rockport twice, cause we liked it so much). Woodman's and Clam Box came so hyped up that they were eschewed for other, lesser hyped options.

    We also wanted to eat lobster rolls, and both Bob Lobster and Lobster Pool allowed us to do so; I think Essex Seafood also had lobster rolls, but I didn't like the look of the lobster salad, so we didn't try those.

    Mitch it's a shame you didn't try the Clam Box. I grew up eating their full belly clams and oysters they were always great. I have been away from the Cape Ann area for 25 years and stopped in this spring when I happened to be in the area and they were still the best I have had. Agawam diner does a good fried clam as well.

    The Clam Box

    gallery_16347_5069_516635.jpg

    Clams to go!

    gallery_16347_5069_93544.jpg

    Oyster Plate with Onion Rings, the BEST!

    gallery_16347_5069_403866.jpg

  3. Uninspired, I never quite understand this criticism. There is a menu, I presume the person eating can read, the dishes either inspire you or not before you even order them.

    I this a veiled complaint about an execution issue or what? It seems to me just another rock to throw often times by someone who has not worked in a kitchen

    I didn't write the original post that you were responding to, but i personally use the term 'uninspired' in two distinct ways.

    1) boring. the dish, whether in concept or execution or both, is devoid of the creativity, nuance or finesse that makes eating a dish at a good restaurant special and different than getting something at cosi or whatever.

    2) lack of artistic vision. good restaurants allow the customer to sort of learn something about the food they are eating through the way they prepare it. for instance, i had a special at amada the other day that paired roasted pork with monkfish in a way that actually helped me better understand the nature of monkfish's particular richness and flavor. does that make sense. that dish, by providing a comparison of the two main ingredients combined with appropriate minor players (golden raisins, swiss chard, pork jus, chicarones, etc..), definitely helped me understand the nature of flavor of monkfish better than just having the fish on it's own. Inspired! that dish had a clear and beautiful artistic vision.

    The food, in my opinion, at 10 arts is uninspired. the menu reads like many other basic hotel restaurants, boring. and the execution is not consistently excellent enough to overcome that lack of creativity in the design of the menu. The restaurant and bar are fairly expensive, and in my opinion, not worthy of my hard earned money ever again.

    ps i have worked in a kitchen in the past, but do not currently

    I don't think you have to work in a kitchen to be a critic of food but having worked in a couple before my current career, I went in every day trying to turn out the best possible food. While I can accept criticism on how the food was executed plated, taste, etc., I always wondered how anyone expects the restaurant, cook,chef to turn out a better quailty plate of food, to cook in differently in response to a criticism...."the dish/food/menu (insertwhatever you want) was uninspired"

    I am reacting to the criticism to call something unispired without offering more to go on as little unfair to the restaurant/chef/cook, etc., how can they improve if they don't know what was negative about the diner's experience.

    Your response provides some insight, thanks. No on has really explained it to me that way

  4. I am sorry forthe late reply. You may want to hold off marscapone cream until the day of. I baked a bunch of these for a church fancy dinner one time and the cream made in advance picked up an off smell and flavor in the fridge even though in an air tight container.

    I have made these recipies before. Not all at once. The mac & cheese, gougeres and tart were on the same menu. Someone with you chops will handle it just fine.

    I envy your guest they are in for a nice time.

    Cheers!

    Oops. I just finished making the mascarpone cream and packed it away in the fridge. Thanks for the heads up, I'll makes sure to give it the taste test Sat morning just in case.

    Have you tried to make the gougeres batter ahead of time and freeze it?

    No I made these the morning of. Pure cowardess on my part, I am afriad to make too much ahead.

  5. Uninspired, I never quite understand this criticism. There is a menu, I presume the person eating can read, the dishes either inspire you or not before you even order them.

    I this a veiled complaint about an execution issue or what? It seems to me just another rock to throw often times by someone who has not worked in a kitchen

  6. I am sorry forthe late reply. You may want to hold off marscapone cream until the day of. I baked a bunch of these for a church fancy dinner one time and the cream made in advance picked up an off smell and flavor in the fridge even though in an air tight container.

    I have made these recipies before. Not all at once. The mac & cheese, gougeres and tart were on the same menu. Someone with you chops will handle it just fine.

    I envy your guest they are in for a nice time.

    Cheers!

  7. Blue Grotto in KOP is supposed to be decent italian. Don't know, I haven't been there. I am very picky about italian eats so I usually don't go unless I know something in advance.

    Before the chef at Allegria in exton had his fancy place, he used to have a place in the strip mall across from the Exton Mall. When I ate there I always enjoyed the food. I haven't been to the fancy place but I imagine he still knows how to rattle the pots and pans.

    I would give Allegria a try. I would trust a Percy or Philadinning recommendation before a Laban.

  8. You know I made scallops with a clementine caramel sauce with shallots, garlic, white wine, turbano sugar, S&P and clementine juice and some cilantro.

    It was not sicky sweet and in fact was a real hit. It was a light sauce sweet, sour a nice balance.

    Perhaps Dale just had a bad night?

  9. Continuing to work there is being complicit in the lies. The longer you stay the more time it will take to get the stank from work at such a whole off of you. You know food suppliers and other chefs talk. You are burning you time and reputation for bums who won't care if you walk out the door today.

    They screw thier customers daily give them a two weeks notice why?

  10. Ah, it's been way too long since I did a butt.

    Now that's a quote! May I use it as a signature line? giving proper credit to you of course.

    When smoking the boneless skinless version I have found they need a bit more attention with the mop or spray or they can dry out quickly. It will look fine then all of a sudden sawdust. I think spraying them down every 20-30 minutes worked well for me.

  11. Obviosly Tom Colicchio is a great chef but in the context of judging "Top Chef", I think it would be great if Tony Bourdain were the chief judge.  Don't you think it would make great television?  Especially if Tony were to exhibit the side of his personality that we saw on this show.  Tom would be a great addition to the guest chef roster.

    I agree I thing Tony fit the role like a glove. His snarkiness would be fun too.

  12. It funny Bourdain was commenting on a segment on 60 minutes which featured Thomas Keller that the next plate of Risotto out the door could be his last that when cooking at his level one bad plate could bring down his empire. It would start people talking, he is so last week, etc, etc. Taken in this context is makes sense and it is understandable that you should not get a pass simply because you did a good job last week.

  13. I thought Tre got the axe for "oversmoked" potatoes.

    Has anyone had Laksa that was "smokey"? I have had lots of different versions here and abroad, some screaming hot, others not real hot but big in flavor. Not a bad bowl in the bunch, but I have never had one that was "smokey."

  14. When it happened I was upset with Dale going home. I think it is becuase Lisa and Mr. Slime were allowed to continue on. Dale, until the scallop debalce, what was he thinking? Showed more skill as a chef than his two teammates. I cannot wait until the other two go, they suck.

    Tony as head judge I think really worked well. He was far more scary that Tom and I think his candor and wit really work well with the format of the show.

    Jose is one of my favorites. I am lucky we get his made in Spain show out here and I love it.

    The stupidity of going all Asian with your concept when you have a very vocal judge which has spent a huge part of the last four years in places you can only imagine, eating food you will never taste is astounding. I love Asian cooking and I have never seen anything remotely like the scallop dish Dale threw up on the plate. It was folly to chose to lead that team and more foolish to agree to open an Asian restaurant.

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