herbacidal

I disagree. I also recant my previous statement. Everyone knows that Hohhot cuisine is far and away the most innovative, nuanced, and tastiest Chinese cuisine.

Didja notice Katie's recs here ? Coupla real good cheapies there.

Without looking at the top of the post, I knew you just got done watching the game, just like me. Anyway, I can't say I've had bad or outstanding scrapple. I think I've generally had decent scrapple. Is there any place that serves good scrapple that you like? The Down Home, as Bob noted, is a place that'll be on my list.

I suppose. My thinking was more along the lines of: If it was my first time to China, and I only had a relatively short amount of time, I'd visit Shanghai. In other words, sort of like a visiting / touring China 101. He's past that. He's somewhere in upper level undergraduate courses. He's already been to a few parts of China and still has plenty of time. I would say he'd enjoy other parts more. I've never to Shaolin, but I would say that's the only reason for going to that area. I agree that Zhengzhou and Kaifeng don't really do much. I forgot about Qingdao and the Shantung peninsula. Also, How much of the Yangtze can you sail on now, if any?

I think it'll take about 10-30 years to discover whether or not Charles Shaw selling its 10 millionth case is a good thing.

Really? Because to me, Shanghai is just another international city. Like Paris, New York, etc. Just the language is changed. I'm not saying it's necessarily a bad place, but if you're in Beijing and want to check stuff out, I wouldn't make visiting Shanghai a priority. Go to the Shaolin temple if you like, near Zhengzhou. Everything that would be interesting to me is semi-far from you, in the south or west. How about Harbin? Actually, it looks like the Ice Festival doesn't start until January so you'll miss that, and that is something I've always wanted to see. China's only ski resort that I know of is there. You could do that. My impression of Dalian was that it was just another large/mid-sized city until industrialization and modernization started a few decades ago, and there isn't really anything special there. My impression may also be wrong.

I don't know who has it other than Blue Ribbon. Theirs is quite tasty.

Damm, it's closed for good so soon? Was the business bad, family problem, or other?

Editorial? Perhaps. Sarcastic,as Cheng suggests? Definitely.

Everything said thus far in this thread I agree with entirely, but I wanted to highlight a few points. It's interesting to me that Westerners continue to have perceptions of tofu being especially bland and tasteless. I assume those with such impressions don't think of tofu as a conduit for flavor nor are have they had tofu presented in a tasty manner. Really? I wasn't aware of that belief. This is most definitely true, the smug self-satisfaction bit. It's true with intra-China cuisines as well. Obviously, we all agree that Cantonese cuisine is by far the best tasting food.

Well yes, that is the kind of private chef I was thinking of based on your initial post below. What you describe now sounds like a caterer, albeit one without a firm or other support staff attached, not a personal chef, which to me is the same as a private chef. In that case, as a caterer, you should never agree to cater a party without having seen the kitchen before. If you don't have a chance to do a walk-through, you should at least get the basic layout/description beforehand so you have an idea of what you're up against, including gas or electric appliances, number of sinks, refrigerators, etc. I do think for parties of that size, unless you can negotiate additional help in the form of a helper, you need to be able to go there earlier, whether it's earlier that day, the previous day, or whatever. Obviously, many people may be thrifty and/or not understand the necessity of such a detail. My guess is that you've already tried to negotiate that and been unable to, and want to come up with a thrilling dessert despite the restrictions. Good luck, the options thus far sound promising, but in general, I think you should attempt to lower your expectations slightly given the situation. You may well be able to pull it off this time anyway, and more power to you. But more often than not, I think you won't. You're making it too hard on yourself, methinks. End rant.

I've never seen a soft pretzel truck, and I'm from Philly. Where you dun seen dat?

First, let me agree that it's a challenge to work in the client's kitchen. To cook a dinner for 25-30 people is more than the duties of a personal chef, it's actual catering, which they're getting out of you rather than paying a caterer. Now, I'm not saying that personal chefs shouldn't do any catering for the client. But if you do have to, I'm assuming you're being paid an amount on top of your weekly fee, which is in turn assuming you are working the agreed upon number of hours per week, and aren't making up hours already paid for by doing the party. The "not being able to prepare the day before" is ridiculous. You should be able to prepare the dish the previous day, with additional hours if necessary. Anyway, the list so far sounds good. I'll just add panna cotta.

No that's different, that's on Chestnut, meaning there's another one a few blocks from the one I'm thinking of.

The only Indian grocery I definitely know of is on Walnut, just west of the Restaurant School, same side of the street. No farther west than 45th St. I'd start there. I suspect there's an Indian market somewhere in Cherry Hill as well, just not sure where.

I like to think that I have above-average intelligence, yet I didn't know that you needed a whip to mix a meringue. Hell, I don't even know the difference between the whip and the paddle mixer. Of course, I rarely cook. Nor did I go to culinary school. But I did know about keeping the shell pieces from the liquid parts of the egg.

Damn, that sounds like a good deal. Katie, Gary road trip? According to the map, it looks like where we got lost yesterday.

Fergus Henderson's book has a recipe for ketchup? That's interesting. Hmm.

Where? I'll talk someone into a road trip.

Not to mention FDDC (Frequent dining and drinking companions) who would be equally happy to share a Jewish apple cake.

Unfortunately, hell no we don't have one. It's my biggest problem with Chinatown.

Don't forget the Korean rotgut they call soju. Not that I think it's rotgut, but that's what I've read.

I agree. I'm ABC Cantonese, and I don't remember dog being mentioned as a food item except once, and that was just talk. The first and only time I've eaten dog was at a Korean restaurant on Bei Da campus, in 1997.

I hadn't heard this yet, but I wouldn't be suprised if you heard that Kissen closed down. That's the place specializing in tempura in NoLib. Whenever I've wandered past, it's never been busy. It was/is owned by the owners of Kisso. Can anyone confirm that it was Kissen and not Kisso? I really liked their furniture. Most interesting furntiure I've seen in a restaurant. Can't say whether it'd be comfortable to sit in or not though.

I would say Philly has a ways to go to catch NYC as far as sushi. There aren't enough Japanese in the area, nor are there enough Korean and Chinese that are familar enough with the process of a sushi restaurant and and the willingness to present that high a standard for sushi. I would speculate that there are few areas on the East Coast other than NYC that do have that resource in significant numbers.