emsny

Among the options for the Vita Prep blender is a container designed for dry ingredients; this might work. Take a look at their web page (http://www.vitamix.com/foodservice/products/vita_prep.asp) and see if this is true.

This is slightly off-topic because it relates only to duck foie gras production in New York, but it shows at least that not all f.g. is raised in a way that most meat-eaters would find objectionable. http://www.villagevoice.com/2009-02-18/new...e-gras-torture/

Try: SOS Chefs Inc www.sos-chefs.com 104 Avenue B New York, NY 10009 (212) 505-5813 Not cheap, but if you look over what you're being offered you can get very high quality.

Markk: I was thinking more of a blindfold than throat lozenges, but, as you say, that's more for a different forum. Still, yes, a blindfold would do the trick.

Thanks, Sneakeater - I didn't know that walking in was an option at Bar Boulud. And I also didn't know, Adrian3891, that Yakitori Totto (which I like) was open late; yes, the abrupt change of milieu is something we enjoy. This kind of information is just what I posted the original question to get.

Thanks, all. Bar Boulud is the obvious answer, though one would need to make a reservation, and part of the post-opera dining equation is that one isn't really sure in advance whether one will want anything more than cake and milk at home. Still, Bar Boulud it shall be after La sonnambula later this month.

In the Picholine thread, Sneakeater writes, "My big problem with Picholine is that I eat after Lincoln Center performances, not before, and they no longer stay open late enough to serve me then...." We eat after Lincoln Center performances too, and we've taken to getting in a cab and going downtown to places like Spotted Pig. What are our late-night options nearer Lincoln Center?

One has to go back in time to a dish that might not (or might, indeed) cut the mustard today: Saumon en croute with sauce Choron at Lutece.

I know that Angela Hartnett's two restaurants (Murano and York and Albany) have indeed passed on the tax cut.

You don't often get offered a pork chop in Paris, but I had a delicious one here once: Repaire de Cartouche, 99 Rue Amelot, 75011.

Thanks again, Felice; very handy.

Thanks, Felice. Lazy off-topic question: on the Fooding web site, is there a list of restaurants by "rating" category - as in Trop Bon? As we're usually in Paris for only a few days a year and the rest of France for only a few more days than that at most, I've never really used Fooding (whose name gives me the willies almost as much as the English "foodie").

Let me revive this thread to ask if anyone has been to 21 rue Mazarine recently.

Sorry, no idea what happened with Oppenheimer. We don't live in that neighborhood but happened to be walking up there a weekend or two ago and saw the place shuttered.

Note that Oppenheimer - much spoken of up-thread - is now closed.

To get back to that question: Does anyone have news about Laduree at the Plaza? Or could it be that Demel has in effect replaced it?

A number of years ago, I would buy excellent, aromatic cold-pressed peanut oil from a Virginia supplier that no longer sells it. I then switched to Baar's (the "health" product company), which was also very good. But their peanut oil is now made from roasted peanuts, which is not what I'm looking for. The only non-roasted but aromatic peanut oil I can find is in Asian markets, from sources I'd prefer to avoid. Does anyone know of a US-produced oil of this kind? I wouldn't want a 55-gallon drum: just a gallon or two at a time. Thanks.

And of course a custard-based ice cream can be made with egg yolks and milk.

Many thanks for that, tsquare. Yes, the depth measurement is the problematic one, and one on which we have little leeway. If we don't like the GE, we can always return it and hire a contractor.

Our microwave just fizzled, and it is old and cheap enough not to be worth even thinking about repairing. Any recommendations for a model no larger than 12.75" D x 19" W x 11" H? (The only way we could fit in a larger one would be to spend fifty or sixty thousand dollars in kitchen reconstruction.)

D'Artagnan sells it - or at least used to - in ten-pound tubs.

This seems as good a place as any to ask this: does anyone have a really good on-line/mail order source for tasso and/or andouille? Over the years I've tried several, and too many tassos, for instance, are just poor-quality pork butt coated with spices. I remember a deeply smoked, delicious one I used to get fifteen or more years ago, but have no clue where it came from.

Could somebody please edit the title of this thread for spelling?

Not from a restaurant standpoint: We use Triton glasses at home, and while they are NOT unbreakable, they are very durable and stand up extremely well to the dishwasher. When I say "not unbreakable", I mean that they will break if you drop them from some distance onto the floor. But they will not break or chip if you just tip them over, even onto a hard surface. I'd think they'd be worth a premium of whatever percent over a standard fairly high-end glass - but probably not over a really cheap glass, because they are pretty costly. They look and feel great, by the way.

On average, the food at Le Cigalon was okay, not more. Raw fish first courses, however, very good indeed, including sardines that were as tender and unctuous as matjes herring; excellent "tian" of anchovies and vegetables. Main-course dishes rather bland, some fish overcooked. Poor tomatoes, which surprised me.