herbacidal

Dude, a Hot dog run would be awesome!!! (Where's the panting and salivating smileyface?) I'd set it up by choosing 3-4 different places from Holly's site.

Update: Shane's is kaput.

Both the boys had food allergies - my oldest was allergic to corn, soy, dairy, eggs, shellfish, peanuts, starwberries, peaches, and mangos. My youngest was allergic to wheat and corn - Wow, someone else who was allergic to the things I was. I used to be allergic to: brown sugar, corn, oranges, bananas, mustard

Actually I live in NJ close to Lambertville, but I lived in Philly for 10 years and was still working there until recently. Sorry about the mistaken address, however it is still good regardless! Actually, I was thinking of Holly. My bad. Yea, you're right. I knew there was something weird about that.

I'll chalk this one up to you going back and forth between New England and here. Hot Tamales is on the north side of JFK now, between 18th and 19th right next to City Garden. I don't know what's going into Hot Tamales' old place, but they're done repainting it. Oh, so John's is where that crab cake and hot dog special is? Never knew the name of the place.

Pray tell. The few things I have heard about Fountain have been positive.

Where's John's Hot Sausages?

Cool. That'd be great if you did. I don't know anyone of non-Chinese descent that makes them. Hell, I don't know any Chinese person under 40 that makes them. I just like the dichotomy.

They certainly are. When the Shanghai Municipal Government decides to ban something, it gets banned. I'm talking about home cooking, using coal, which typically was kept burning all day. The few older households that haven't been relocated into new residences have been retrofitted for gas (bottled, where need be). There are still street vendors using charcoal (this either isn't banned or the ban is not enforced) but it's a minor source of pollutants compared with a few million households cooking all their meals on coal. I was actually speaking about Shenyang, but it's interesting that Shanghai has decided to do that. Polishing things up before the in case 2008 Olympic visitors decide to swing on down through town, I'd imagine. So coal stoves are illegal in Shanghai, eh? Anyone know if they're still used in the factories around China? That huge natural resource has to be used somewhere.

If they've banned it, that's all well and good, but are they enforcing it? Back in 1997, Chongqing seemed very grimy and dirty too, but I've never been to Dongbei (Manchuria/Northeastern part of China) so I can't compare it.

We keep some soy sauces, oyster sauce, chili sauce in the fridge. We don't have fish sauce, hot sauce???, or black bean sauce.

True. My default recommendations when people ask me are gewurtztraminer or riesling. No clue on reds though.

If you're referring to my comment about premade slices, you don't need that good a knife. After you put it on the grill (in the frying pan?), you just break it up with your utensil of choice. They're basically less than a quarter of an inch thick.

Rich Pawlak, veteran inveterate foodie, arrogant bastard on all things beer, trivia and otherwise, dean of pizza minutaie. Congrats.

Perfect timing. I was just at a highly thought of place in Philly today (John's) and it's the first time I've gotten a steak with a similar mouthfeel to steaks back when I was at a place making them. The steaks we were using back then were frozen slices of beef, approximately 2"X4", can't recall the cut. To me, it seemed like basically a wholesale version of Steak-um (which is something I've never had, so I can't compare.) Now, this is the first time I've gotten that impression, although it's possible other reputable places' steaks will have a similar mouthfeel. The only other comparison I can draw is Pat's, which uses ribeye, and tastes very different in the mouth. Can't remember specifics about Jim's, D'Alessandro's, Frusco's. Anyone know what cut John's uses? And where they get their steaks?

Ben's right. Also, you should be aware that there is a world of difference between the stuff you see from your local Chinese takeout and Chinese cooking at home for Chinese. I don't know of any Chinese person that orders from the local Chinese takeout. They are meant to serve up what others want, or what their perception of the kind of Chinese food that others want.

Ahem Katie. Donkey's Place Hey, it's important for Katie to show that she's not biased or is pandering towards her fellow moderators.

Those are cool. If I was opening a restaurant, I'd use them. Hell, I'd probably change the theme of the restaurant to fit them.

There's an alcoholic root beer? Where? I want it. Or do you mean that it's the only non alcoholic thing they make?

Can't say what works best, but I can say that fresh works well. I infused habanero (be careful not to make it too hot for others) with 100 proof Smirnoff.

The reason why retail businesses need that larger markup ie higher gross margin is because far, far, far more of their monies are spent on the upkeep, overhead, etc. than on the product, which is different than any other business. Let me tick off some of the possible monthly expenses for a somewhat standard restaurant with bar, with somewhat reasonable numbers: liability insurance, lightbulbs, trash pickup $100, false credit card charges, telephone bill $150, ties for waitstaff, linen napkins, silver polish, kitchen uniforms Here's money spent before any money is taken from a single customer: chairs, electrical wiring, putting up walls, big non-electrical sign $500, utensils, painting walls with pretty things or a nice color, $500 for additional containers and doodads to pass health inspection Here's some additional things the owners might spend money on depending on the place: re-upholstering furniture, refrigerator repairman $200, potpourri for bathrooms, interior designer, graphic designer And of course, that's without: wages, food and beverage costs, profits for owner(s) Truthfully, I think 75% is too little. For the amount of time that restaurant owners go through and the money they get from it, it's ridiculously small. I am referring primarily to the independent owner-operator. Sorry, I suppose the above is a semi-off topic rant. The above applies primarily to the restaurant business, but enough of that is true for the bar business too. Especially since these high priced drinks are being sold not in bars, but in the bar parts of restaurants/hotels. And of course, the other thing is that people aren't willing to pay those kinds of markups for food, but they are for liquor. In that respect, think of a restaurant's food sales as the loss leader akin to the products mentioned in supermarket circulars, and the beverage/alcohol sales as the higher-margin impulse items that people can't resist.

You should infuse a habenero vodka. You'd enjoy it. There's a Trader Joe's near you? Hey from Philly!

Given that : there isn't any sort of a consensus on any place as the best, that I believe that there are 2-4 different places people have mentioned at various times in NE Phila for cheesesteaks you really need to include more info. That said, I'm wondering if Steve's is the place you're trying to think of. I suppose a few have mentioned it, but my feel is there is nowhere close to a majority who feel that way. I can't say anything about percentages, but 1/3 is as good as any. But yes, there's always been a decent portion of people who like raw onions on their steak. Not my preference, but then I like mayo too, sometimes. Actually my preferred cheesesteak would be with hot peppers (the smaller kind, cut up, w/o stems), sweet peppers, fried onions, mayo on the inside of roll, ketchup on top and throughout meat, roll slightly warmed (don't need to stick in oven, just placed on top of oven or on edge of stove is good). Mushrooms are good too, sometimes. This combo also works with chicken cheesesteaks. Shut up about it, you heathens.

1) You shouda mentioned the lack of tendon to the waitress. 2) Where is Le Cyclo?

Hong Kong Bank, originally called "Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank", was moved from Shanghai to Hong Kong because of the revolution.