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carp

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Posts posted by carp

    Restaurant Restrooms

    in Restaurant Life

    Posted

    If I go into a restaurant and visit the restroom first only to find it dirty with no hot water, soap, etc. I promptly let the manager know that I am no longer interested in eating there. Where do the employees wash their hands? :blink:

    And there you have it... I feel that if management cannot maintain a clean restroom, they are probably unable to maintain a kitchen clean enough to earn my money.

    Our academic achievement group arranged several tours of fine-dining establishments around the area, and I found this to be the case. In every place where I thought the kitchen was not up to standards, I also discovered a restroom that was, to put it mildly, disheveled.

    Now... if you know people are coming to look you over, does it matter that they aren't the health inspector? Could Ya Clean Up A Little?!?

    **this rant officially over**

    Anyone else read Excerpts from Gluttony at Table #1?

    http://egullet.com/?pg=ARTICLE-gluttony11

    The owner of The Beet used to meticulously clean the bathroom for this very reason.

    Beware the clean restroom...

    Just for fun: Where did you eat?

    in California: Dining

    Posted · Edited by carp (log)

    I'll admit that you caught me on a good week. Usually I wouldn't let others in on my secret shame as usually this list would be populated by one good restaurant and 2 hideous choices that would out me as an indiscriminate eater of anything that will sit long enough for me to take a stab at with my fork...

    Fujian in Walnut Creek (Spencer, the very best raw fish man I know)

    Vatran's Flying Sausages in San Leandro (Peter Vatran makes excellent roast beef, incredible braises, wonderful soups... and he is the one-and-only Sausage Sage... the Delacroix of Delicatessen)

    Picasso in Las Vegas (million$ of dollar$ worth of Picassos... oh, yeah and they serve food, too...)

    Toaster Pig

    in Cooking

    Posted · Edited by carp (log)

    Someone recently showed me a Pampered Chef catalog that had toaster cooking bags for sale. You're supposed to be able to put whatever fits in the bags and cook it in the toaster (toaster vegetables en papillote?). It seemed like a totally dumb-ass idea to me at the time... but maybe I was wrong?

    Pastry Openings at Bellagio

    in Pastry & Baking

    Posted

    Several months ago I saw the episode of "Into the Fire (ItF)" that featured the Bellagio. It has haunted me... so last weekend I went to Picasso and had a great meal, but everything is done so smoothly at the Bellagio that I didn't get to see any of the enormous food service operation featured in ItF.

    Next time I go to Las Vegas what are my chances of getting a behind-the-scenes look at the Bellagio foodservice underworld?

    Rice Vinegar

    in Kitchen Consumer

    Posted

    I love rice vinegar. It is one of my goto vinegars. I use it often and in many different applications. It’s great. I like the mild soft flavors. It can be used wherever you need a vinegar (except for pickling… it isn’t acidic enough). I splash it on stirfrys, asian soups, salads, everything, etc…

    A favorite application is vinaigrettes where it does a great job of bringing together dressing flavors whenever you don’t want a more harshly acidic vinegar. Of course I also like to use more assertively acidic and pungent vinegars, like sherry, but rice wine is often just what I need to liven up a dish without making it too obvious that I added vinegar.

    Restaurant Restrooms

    in Restaurant Life

    Posted

    Although I definitely appreciate a nice lavatory, I wish restaurants would, at the very least, concentrate on providing diners with the bare minimum at all times: running water, paper towels, and soap. As someone who likes to wash their hands before eating, this is usually all I am looking for in a restaurant bathroom... everything else is gravy.

    Getting milked in the San Francisco area

    in California: Cooking & Baking

    Posted

    I completely agree with shopping for different things in different stores. It makes me seem like a freak to go to three or more places to get all I need. But I really think I not only get better prices but fresher products, often of the same brands. Because of their lower prices I think Smart and Final stores move eggs and dairy very quickly so they are a lot more fresh than at the other grocery chains. Trader Joe’s moves a good deal of dairy and because they are more convenient I often go there when I can’t hit the S&F. The S&F doesn’t have a lot of good cheese so for that I’ll go to TJ’s. Costco has good prices on milk, but they don’t generally carry heavy cream and they don’t always have unsalted butter, which is the only way I buy it. The local grocery stores (albertson’s and safeway) have terrible prices on eggs and the dairy products I buy and some of their eggs show pack dates weeks older than the eggs at either TJ’s, S&F or Costco. I don’t usually check pack dates on dairy, but I suspect their story is similar. I will go to the albertson’s and safeway only to get stuff where fresh doesn’t matter as much and the prices are competitive or I don’t want to purchase in volume. I go to the highfalutin markets, a butcher shop, or costco for my meat, fresh poultry, and fish.

    Getting milked in the San Francisco area

    in California: Cooking & Baking

    Posted

    I buy the regular milk at Trader Joe's and it is cheaper than at the bigger chains. I buy a lot of dairy there. The house-brand butter is a lot cheaper than at the store and it is of decent quality. The house brand is about $2.69/lb and the Plugra is only $.60 or so more.

    I buy cream Berkeley Farms Manufacturing cream in 1/2 gallon containers at Smart and Final for about $6. I also buy milk there once in a while... I think their gallon price is around $3.50. Their butter price, when purchased in the unsegmented 3lb box, is the best around (usually less than $5).

    Wow... Does it seem like I buy a lot of butter?

    I guess I do and that doesn't even take into account the butter I often make with the left-over manufacturing cream (cultured of course)....

    Going back to the topic. If I were to buy my milk at the big chain stores, or Andronico's etc.., it would be very close to $5/gallon. Milk and cream prices always drift upward in the summer due to higher demand from ice cream manufacturers. However, this year has been particularly tough on dairy consumers.

    Indian butter

    in India: Cooking & Baking

    Posted · Edited by carp (log)

    food processor homemade butter is the best, but...

    I’m now kind of upset with you… After I read your post I became obsessed with the idea of churning my own butter in my food processor. It took me a while to figure out exactly how to do it well. I also eventually sought out and stumbled onto a website that has more information about butter than almost anyone could possibly want and definitely more than your average person could need.

    http://webexhibits.org/butter/doityourself.html

    Among the things I learned is how to churn, wash, and knead food processor butter.

    I also learned how to make a very delicious cultured butter… and I learned that India consumes more butter than any other nation and does so by an admirable margin.

    http://webexhibits.org/butter/consumption.html

    Thanks to you I spent my entire weekend churning, culturing, and taste testing butter… This has suddenly become an all-consuming endeavor… so I guess…

    Thank you.

    But next time you casually toss out a statement like that… I may ask you to follow up with some instructions.

    I want it RAW!

    in New York: Cooking & Baking

    Posted

    I've been buying it for years -- according to this site, this is a list of the states that do and do not offer raw milk.

    And, after googling a bit, I've learned a lot -- not realizing it WAS illegal in certain states! (go figure).

    That's awesome!

    I live in the Bay area... Where do you get it?

    "Les Halles Cookbook" by Anthony Bourdain

    in Cooking

    Posted

    Yes, it's correct on the book cover itself!  :biggrin:

    Considering what it costs to publish a book, this is a very nice touch ... :rolleyes:

    Spell check needed on Amazon? What is this world coming to?? :laugh:

    Note that in the Editorial Reviews section Eric Ripert calls the recipes "deliicious."

    Burritos

    in eGullet Tex-Mex Q&A with Robb Walsh

    Posted · Edited by carp (log)

    Dear Mr. Walsh,

    Thank you very much for taking the time to answer our questions. I am a big fan of your writing.

    Growing up in Mexico City I never, ever, saw any burritos there or even flour tortillas for that matter. My grandmother, who is from Northern Mexico (near Mazatlan), used to make flour tortillas whenever we visitied and I always loved them. Anyway, according to my mother, when they moved to California grandmother's tortillas grew in size and she started making burritos in the early 1960's. My mother said that she picked up this addition to her repertoire when they lived briefly in Arizona and my uncle absolutely loved, and still loves, the burritos.

    My mother, who later moved to Mexico City with my father, will testify to the complete lack of burritos or flour tortillas when we lived there. Interestingly, we also lacked sour cream and I never once saw a taco filled with spiced ground beef.

    I asked my father, who is also a Mexico City native, if he ever had flour tortillas there and he replied, "Why would I?"

    Sorry for rambling, but are burritos a Tex-Mex invention? Did I simply not look hard enough in Mexico City? Are burritos a Northern Mexico invention and my grandmother simply lived too far south?

    Thank you!

    Pork Belly

    in Cooking

    Posted

    I am trying to make a braised pork belly and I was wondering how much rind needs to be trimmed off to make this.

    I've heard that the rind needs to be removed for this, but I am not sure how much of the fat constitutes the rind. Does all of the skin and fat need to be removed or just the tough outer layer of fat?

    Blackberries

    in Pastry & Baking

    Posted

    I love blackberries and vanilla ice cream/custard variants (anglaise, brulee, etc). I know this is a pretty safe combination, but I sure love it. I like to macerate them with grand marnier and sugar regardless of their ultimate use. So, yes, I sweeten to taste.

    Shrimp: enjoy and damn the expense?

    in Kitchen Consumer

    Posted

    If our domestic producers cannot compete without artificial price controls and protectionist government policies, maybe they shouldn't survive. I believe in comparative advantage... Maybe shrimp boatin' isn't for them anymore and they should find a means of supporting themselves that does not create a drag on the economy. Stop the whining and become productive contributors to the economy.

    If their product is superior to the imported shrimp, many would happily pay a premium so they should find this niche and cater to it. Maybe this is a small niche and we can no longer support as large a shrimp industry in this country. I don't see that as a loss.

    We have way too many industries in this country that have been coddled for too long by subsidies, tariffs, and other shenanigans.

    What ever happened to capitalism?

    Laissez faire

    "The Restaurant" Reality Show Season 2

    in Food Media & Arts

    Posted

    ...i had a fairly low opinion of Jamie Oliver before watching (not so much based on his cooking ability, but his omni-presence...it gets really annoying seeing him on Sainsbury's commercials hawking his product line 24-7, esp. around christmas), i came out of the brief viewing i did thinking a bit more highly of him.

    funny, my opinion of rocco has been entirely in reverse. he makes me cringe now. too much rocco-viewing is not a good thing...

    I completely agree. Although I had watched Oliver's shows and somewhat enjoyed them, I did not have a high regard for his abilities as a cook... much less as a chef running a kitchen. After watching him on the reality tv show I definitely felt that his stock had risen considerably. He definitely came across as someone who can not only cook, but can also run a kitchen with professionalism, poise, and skill. Rocco's first season saw his kitchen make some food that was not well received by the diners and appeared to be of poor quality. However, Jaime Oliver was at no time shown making or serving anything short of top-quality professional product. Oliver also seemed to have a busy schedule promoting his books, self, and other products. Nonetheless, it appeared as though he made running the kitchen at 15 a priority and devoted a remarkable amount of time and effort to the burgeoning restaurant's success. Oliver's skill and maturity, as portrayed in the show, belied his years. It's hard to believe he is about 10 years younger than Rocco.

    "The Restaurant" Reality Show Season 2

    in Food Media & Arts

    Posted

    Does anyone have any clue as to who "Ralph" is and where he has cooked before?

    He's been on the Food Network's Date Plate... a lame-ass cross between a dating show and a cooking competition. He didn't actually cook on the show. He just advised the contestants who competed for a date. Kat Cora was also on that show.

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