handmc

He's is already out there talking trash, despite everything they tried to do, I'd defend the claim. Its on the inside. It wasn't new and if it didn't come clean, the cost to reline the coat would most likely be less than the depreciated value of the coat. Also there is the fact the customer took it to his cleaner first which, if they did not handle the stain properly set the stain, which is not the restaurant's fault. You could drill the amount of the potential recovery into the floor in this case. Sometimes you just have to say enough already.

The lunch counter at Woolworth's. Hot dogs with grilled buns or grilled cheese and tomato soup.

You know I was wondering the same thing. I have also noticed that the more I watch american chopper, and I am not even a bike guy, I become more facinated with what they do and how creative they are. The personality nonsense actually just gets in the way. I don't think I will tire of the show soon. It is interesting to watch how the staff, his friends that start with him, have grown in their job and what they do. The one skinny guy who seems to be his #2, is a lot more confident in his work than the first season. He also appears to really like what he his doing. This guy makes some great looking cakes. Only a little more than an hour out of Baltimore every time I watch the show I am tempted to order one.

Yuck! Yuck! YUCK!. What a mess. Mr. I brought my eels from Spain wins? What's with the judges complaining about how he is one dementional but then kissing his backside. Marcel, I think, if he had not been such a turd to everyone might have had a better shot. A couple of things I don't understand, if you find to containers of ingredients that were not on the rack wouldn't you, knowing that would not be able to return to the main fridge because you would be too busy to go back and the main fridge too far away, STOP and inventory your ingredients before leaving the building. Isn't that what responsible Chefs do? I think Marcel lost it right there when he blamed his help for the missing fish. Its his show, its his probem. While he kind of redeemed himself when he said Sam helped him out when the could not locate the fish, he then kicks himself in the A when he starts ranting about how Sam wanted to be in his shoes, lack of motiviation blah, blah, blah. Watching the second season it appears that the judges could go either way until they speak to the other team members and then the contestants. Both Tiffany and Marcel appear to have tanked themselves with the way they treat people and when they opened thier mouth in the end. Then again is it just a strugggle of Good v. Evil? Nah, its just Bravo TV. It think it would have been more interesting to see Marcel take Frank on his team. In the end Illan talking trash about Harold, yeah he may appear dull but so what, please go back to your eels and shut up! Now Top Design that's some GOOD TV!

The tailgate eipsode was amusing. I liked when the guy came back with 15 minutes left and demanded his grill back. The chef offered to give them all food, about 20 of them, and the guy said no, I just want my grill. He kept repeating it until they gave him the grill back. So my question is: was the guy with the grill that big an A or was it all a part of the "drama" for us rubes?

Its interesting I watched the cable, "watch what happens next" after the show and it was Sam and Tom. Sam corrected Tom on his comment he didn't cook anything and reminded him he cooked the coconut dessert and the cookie. Both said Marcel's food was really good. Something we the viewers will never know. Illan got it because he was brave enough to use ti leaves and no one else was. I agree, Pamda was toasted, the fact she was dismissed by almost everyone there was sad. I wonder if she will come back after that display. Marcel apparently got hit in the face by a fan in Vegas and ended up with 30 stiches, now that is unneccessary. I don't understand why Illan when they point out in deliberations that he has not moved out of Spanish food land the entire contest, with the exception of this one episode, so reward him and send the guy with the best skills home? I don't get it. The Sam/Marcel show would have been just as dramatic. This season was kind of sad. I hope they do it again, but perhaps this time they can scare up a few more talented contestants. With this country as big as it is, this is the best they can come up with?

I would love to watch Flay read these. I bet he would be howling! You should come up with some more. Bobby Flay can cook a cow just by pointing at it and shouting, Booya! Bobby Flay turned his own incubator into a smoker. It was the third barbecue grill he had made. There is no brain behind any of Bobby Flay's chins. There is only another grill. Bobby Flay once brought a steak back to life by giving it a prolonged massage with his jowls. The reason cows moo, lambs baa, and pigs oink is because they all know they have entered a world with Bobby Flay in it. Bobby Flay once went over Niagara Falls in a barbecue grille. The steaks were *perfect* by the time he got to the bottom. Bobby Flay has no need of matches or lighter fluid. The coals light themselves because they know what the f***'s good for them. Bobby Flay could cure hoof and mouth disease, Mad Cow, and anthrax if he wanted to. But he doesn't. That's just how he rolls. Bobby Flay's couch is made out of burning mesquite. Meat from the barbecue of Bobby Flay does not need to rest. It's been touched by The Master and that should be good enough for anyone. When Bobby Flay was in college, he had marijuana legalized so he could use his bong as a smoker. ←

Padma as a diciplinarian - now its was almost as funny as it was pathetic. Someone should tell Ilan the Unibomber look is out. Ilan has it pretty bad for Elia if he is willing to shave his head for her. I cannot taste and pick the right wine because I'm diabetic? - Sam do you live in fear? The amount of sugar from swish and spit would not send him into a coma. If that were the case how could he even taste his food. Wus. Stop complaining already, there are millions out there who have bigger issues with thier illness. I'm surprised that Cliff didn't get bounced earlier, I think he deserved to go home more than Michael did. Marcel has made progress he has switched from foam to puree, which is like a foam with less air right? Tom looks completely disgusted I would be surprised if there was a season three to see him stick around. This season is ending badly. There has to be better talent out there. Daniel please send in a tape so we will have a reason to watch next season. They are casting now.

I really loved the Ghana episode. I was left wanting to jump on the next plane. The department of tourism there should hire him full time!

Wonderful Blog. The pictures are stunning. I will never complain about a small kitchen again! May be an odd question but do you make salsa or other dishes that a very different for your friends in vietnam to try? Is there much of a presence of non asian or french cuisines?

Do the dishes you cook play out a subconscious theme? So I was driving from Knoxville to Pennsylvania and I was listening to a music critic analyze a young composer’s work. Out of the 20 plus pieces he had composed she noted in a large number of them a single melody reveals itself subtly throughout his work. When asked about it, it stunned the young composer and he went back and looked the entire body of work and found the few note phrase in all but a few of his works. The critic raised the question because she was intrigued how this phrase was used to build interesting melodies in his music, while noting how distinct each piece was. So I got to thinking are there recurrent themes in my cooking, flavor combinations, techniques that appear frequently, are there techniques or flavors I avoid? Maybe it was because I had 11 hours to burn thinking about things but to get this started I noticed I tend to shy away for sweet and bitter. I love fish but seldom cook it, I think it is a fear issue, similar to one I have for baking. Why to I shy away from using rice, something I love and tend to default to potatoes and other starches? I might be over thinking things, perhaps not. I’m curious has anyone ever looked for common themes, etc., in the dishes they prepare the most. Does it change for whom you are cooking or whether it is a special gathering?

mmmm hemp bread, is that like the brownies of my mispent youth?

There are some statistics available at the CDC but they do not necessarily give you the information you are looking for. As an attorney who handles food cases where death, substantial hospital stay or post illness surgical procedure or organ transplant is or may be a necessity, I can tell you from my personal experience the majority of the cases I have handled originate from fast food restaurants. As for sit down restaurants I have had three cases of illness involving chain sit down restaurants, (42) cases from a high end restaurant related to an outbreak connected to one food source, 15 related to a dinners at two country clubs (again related to outbreak connected to one food source), a country club with poor food handling practices which improperly prepared a meat dish and a number of cases related to contaminated food sold by chain grocery stores. Of all the claims I have handled only two are related to how the food was prepared in the home, however the source of the illness was the meat that was consumed, which was contaminated but not properly cooked. Ground beef by Federal Statute should not have e-coli in it, period, so it is not a defense that the consumer did not prepare it correctly. A substantial portion of my practice is related to food cases as described above. You will notice that I did not mention the local farmers market or local butcher as a source for food illness. In 10 plus years of handling this type of product liability action I have never even reviewed a claim relating to the sale of a food product where a farm market or local butcher was implicated as a potential source of illness. Why, well at my local butchers, I am lucky enough to have two near my home, the area where they break down the meat or poultry is spotless. They are passionate about what they do and take great pride in serving good wholesome food to the community. Hmmm, I guess factory production has a downside. At least from my standpoint, I will not file a case, unless I can establish using onset time and sound epidemiology, that a defendant is the most probably source of the food that caused the illness. These cases cost in the tens of thousands of dollars and years to litigate so I only take cases where people get seriously injured. From my experience the one nice high end sit down restaurant and two of the three country clubs that had sound food handling programs and they followed them. A fresh produce item where the parasite could not be washed off during the preparation of the food item sickened the people in those cases. The defendants responsible for paying damages in those cases because they sold a contaminated food product. The remaining defendants tend to make a show at proper food handling practices. Sometimes there is a detailed food handling program, but no verification procedures, or oddly enough a detailed food handling program, with verification procedures that show they were not following their plan but continued on business as usual. Other defendants just go completely off the reservation and only clean up their food handling practices after visits from regulatory agencies. I have even had defendant’s claim, under oath they never had any violations or citations from governmental agencies, when I had in my possession the health department records that showed that mere days before they sold my client undercooked chicken that landed my client in the ICU the health depart had handed them a report of multiple violations and gave them 72 hours to come into compliance or be shut down. These are the bad apples. Unfortunately there are many more than there should be and because people die or are maimed they grab the headlines. You don’t see a headline “Bob’s restaurant [a fake name here folks] celebrated 25 years of serving safe and tasty food today.” I have on occasion run into a restaurant that simply had a bad day and sent a plate out when they should not have. Sadly, I can count them on one hand.

handmc, I wonder if you were presented with a menu there or just read the "specials?" I ate there with a few friends recently while in town and found the food, service, and atmosphere to be fabulous. We enjoyed the warm, cozy, informal environment and felt very welcomed. We weren't given menus, just told what they were serving that evening. Portions were more than ample and that made me a little worried, should we have split them? Just how much would they be? We were shocked when the bill arrived and the entrees were $45-65 each. Apps were reasonably priced at $10-12. We didn't expect it to be inexpensive, but I really thought it would max out at $30/entree.... given the non-descript location, and the fact that it's Pittsburgh, and the fact that no prices are posted. Anywhere. Thankfully it's a BYO, otherwise, I can't imagine what the bill might have totalled! As we had less than nothing to complain about regarding food and service, we picked up our jaws off the floor, paid the bill, and left. Chalking it up to not being "in the know" about the place. My friend and hostess for the weekend felt horribly that she didn't know beforehand what we were getting ourselves into. Looking back, it definitely seemed as though other tables had dishes that weren't on the "list". And, in the research we've done before and since visiting, it seems as thought at one point in time there was a menu with pastas and entrees starting around $15 and in addition they offered a chalk board with a list of the daily specials. This did not seem to be the case. I'm curious about other people's experience there... are there some unwritten rules? Should we not have gone there without knowing the secret handshake to get the menu? I dine out frequently in Philadelphia, and think that I would have been shocked has this happened here too. Thoughts? ← I never saw a menu or a chalk board for that matter. I also had no idea of the price tag. While it was a celebration the price tag for 16 people 1,060 was hefty. We tried to get into Davio, better food and it has menus, it was booked. Davio also has this fried bread you have to try. Its a bit pricy so be prepared but it is a nice night out.

Sadly last night was my last night in Pittsburgh. The jury came back a victory! Yeah me! Dinner, was at alla familia. Wow what a send off. The chef, and man does he have mad skills, created a special menu with fish, prime rib, veal chops and steak. Also served was pasta, salad, some of the best creme brulee I have ever had and a tiramisu made with Chambourd instead of coffee. This was superb. Service was awesome. I am seriously going to miss Pittsburgh. alla famiglia 804 east warrington avenue pittsburgh, pennsylvania 15210 412.488.1440

Loooong Day. Ended up at Mallorca. Has the mussels, garlic soup and the steak and blue cheese. Flan for dessert. A couple of martinis and some nice wine, they gave us some Portugese Almond liquior for dessert on the house. Another fine dinner, particularly welcome since it was a long day. Did I mention I love this city!

Tonight was Ibiza Tapas & Wine Bar 2224 E. Carson Street, Pittsburgh, PA . Glad to be back in Pittsburgh! We started with Martinis We had mussels, artichoke fritters, anchovie bruscetta with tomatoes and eggplant, salmon tartare. Outstanding! With a spanish wine flight. very good The Argentinian Beef platter with pork cutlet, filet, double lamb chops, blood sausage and chirizo. Port flight Creme Brulee Excellent dinner. enthusiastic service another Pittsburgh hit. At Le Pommier I had the snails, the duck and creme brulee - stunning!

I know why we hear so little from the Pittsburgh crowd, they want us to stay away! I have been in Pittsburgh for the past three weeks and return monday. This place is a dining destination! I love this city. Some of the places I have been to include: Davio - excellent italian BYO Dish - on 17th another great restaurant Le Pommier on Carson - awesome french food with a reasonably priced wine list. Mallorca - Yummy spanish food. Great service Fatheads - great beer and food avoid the volcano wings - the name is not kidding. I can hold my own eating Korean food and hot peppers and these wings stopped me in my tracks. Once I put the fire out the rib were great. Bravo Franco - great italian I look forward to other yummy adventures next week! Wow what a town

Bravo Franco 613 Penn Ave (Cross Street: ) Pittsburgh, PA 15222 (412) 642-6677 The room is subdued, with a good-sized bar, and large, connected dining areas. Large, comfortable chairs surround tables spaced so that normal conversation is possible without raising one's voice. As for service we choose to sit at the bar, Mark the bar tender and wine guru was very nice and very attentive. He made our Martinis the way we liked and knew a hell of a lot about the wine list. When asked, there was a number of decent California options as well as some top notch Italian wines asked for his preference it was not the top end of the list but rather an honest reflection of what he thought was a the best option for what we ordered below. Loser that I am I did not write down what we purchased but I will supplement this post later. The wine was superb. The Food For starters, tried the portabella mushroom stuffed with spinach and crab on red gravy this dish, my friends, ROCKED!. A little cheese, lots of crabs and the spinach and mushroom were a perfect appy for $9.95. Next was Antipasta Primavera $12.95 with prosciutto, sopressata, imported cheese, olives, and fresh vegetables very tasty and served two easy. Dinner was: Veal Forestale $21.95 with white wine, artichokes, and wild mushrooms Porterhouse Steak $38.95 I ordered my steak rare, Rothschild Style which is marinated in a Bordeaux wine then topped with imported Roquefort Bleu Cheese and horseradish breadcrumbs served with an Italian Roasted Tomato. Man this was one of the best steaks I have ever had. WOW. I have a month long trial starting in Pittsburgh and I will not lack for good places to eat!

Emril beat him to it. BAM! BAM!! BAM!! He provided meals for the US space program and had something on the food network.

Love the blog, dog and kids. I have visited Chicago a number of times. What a great town. If you like Korean Food go to Seoul. I have been twice for work, I got to do a little sight seeing which was nice, but WOW what a place to go to eat. Best meal I had I walked into the bus station and went upstairs to look at the places to eat. I spoke no Korean, my waitress no english. I asked for yeukajang, the super hot beef soup. She said no. I pointed to what I learned later was a bowl of screaming hot Kim Chi Soup. She said yes, yes and brought a huge bowl over with a quart of water and a huge tray of banchan. I was in heaven. Price $6.00. edited because I wish I could spell or at least proof read.

A whorehouse, baby caskets and Ginsberg in the same story, now that's writing. I spent a Month one weekend at the Indy 500. 13 guys 27 cases and one keg of beer in an RV. Somehow we ended up with a naked mannequin and getting chased through the streets by a really drunk guy with a gun. The race and inflied were amazing. Gotta love naptown! Frog Eyes are called gashouse eggs up in my neck of the woods. Since I mentioned food that means you get to write about anything you want for a while right? Whatever you do don't stop, you have us all waiting for the next installment.

Chris, The show is a hoot. I love your shirts. Please don't hold back if you eat something that you don't like. Your laugh may save food network. You can help but grin when you hear it.

Some onion confit would go really nice with the other items.

Wow I didn't even know Targe sold fresh foods or the Ming Tsai sold anything but marinades and sauces outside of his restaurant. Oh well, back under my rock I go.