jhlurie

See... if it was actually a decent katsu, I wouldn't mind seeing it here. The problem is most of the stuff at KFC in the U.S. winds up tasting pretty much the same, and I'd be amazed if they could pull it off. The breading has to be GOOD, for starters.

Rachel, I think it would only be a confirmation, not a flag. Would the average customer usually be offered complimentiary food in the first place, I mean unless they were a well-known regular, a public figure, or a celebrity? Or, as Tom says, unless it's being offered to the whole room. (I guess one exception to this would be free drinks, which I could see being offered simply because you are coming off as a "big spender".) As for the "fake credit card", that's pretty easy if its under the name of a shell corporation of some type, a spouse, etc. Right?

???????? Owls? Tits? Chicken Breasts? Hooters waitresses? Where IS this bank? ????????? ================================================================== I wonder if you can make a nice paté out of owl? It might just work on Chicken breast... Side discussion: what ruins a chicken breast sandwich? Some of mine.... 1.) dry/overcooked 2.) Ketchup. In many cases BBQ sauce. 3.) If its NOT fried, I've had some HORRIBLE grilled/griddled chicken sandwiches which were TOO thick. 4.) A Lemon-Garlic treatment, if mishandled. Some of the worst chicken sandwiches I've ever had were bungled versions of this.

Were the breasts nice and juicy?

Er. Jason. Ummm. Did the code talk get by you? Hello? Anybody home? Besides, we are talking about Chicken Sandwiches.

So I'm walking around Central Park South in Manhattan yesterday and two urges overcome me simultaneously: 1.) I'm really really hungry because I missed lunch, but I'm not feeling very ambitous. 2.) I'm in a curious mood, and feel an odd desire to stare at Owls. Maybe it was all of the birds in the park... Well, luckily for me, about two blocks away, is Hooters--a kind of mecca devoted to Owls, and I'd never been there--at least to the Manhattan location. Hooters is an odd place. I mean, all of those pictures of Owls--on shirts, on the wall, on shirts, on the menus, on shirts... its a bit distracting. I'd also been having a strange craving for a Hooter's Buffalo Chicken Sandwich--which I don't think I've had since I was in Tampa about a year and a half ago. Joke all you want, but: a.) its fried b.) its sufficiently spicy c.) its very large, but not at all dry d.) it has nothing to do with Owls, but is served in an Owl-filled environment e.) if you ditch the unnecessary side order of curly fries, you can suck down an extra beer with it Am I the only one who is able to see past the shiny corporate pseudo-chain status of Hooters and enjoy the chicken sandwich, and all of the pictures of owls?

In a way, more powerful, because the favors owed to them are less traceable--more subtle. And yes, its been my theme that part of this "untouchability" will no doubt come from the fact that either they wouldn't be seen as newsworthy, or they simply wouldn't float to the top of the public's attention barrel for very long, because the implications of their influence are again, so subtle. Not to mention, there's so little you can prove. So restaurants hang up signs simply stating that they are in the guide? So what, Zagat could argue, we aren't telling anyone in the public how to interpret that. So the selection process of which restaurants are mentioned and which aren't isn't exactly crystal clear? It's a complicated process, they'd say, but of course there are oversights. We'll get right on it! Money has to change hands, people have to get naked, or somebody has to die. No, not really, but that's really the only way this would last more than 30 seconds as a story.

My best airline meal ever was on a TWA Ambassador class flight to Hawaii, maybe 17 or 18 years ago. Champagne, Chateaubriand, Lobster, fresh pineapple, etc. No quantity limits. You finished and they kept asking--"do you want another"? This was in a super-widebody jet, so they obviously had a little extra space to work with, and the TWA Ambassador class was apparently famous for spoiling people. Back in the REAL world, at least in recent years, maybe... Midwest Airlines--also, coincidentally on flights to and from Kansas City. I had cold plates (but really GOOD cold plates) because they were short flights, but apparently the longer flights have more complicated stuff. Frankly, the simple but well executed fruit plate I had on the way, and the sandwich plate I had on the return, were more than good enough.

What she said, except for that one with cold cucumbers in it. I've been meaning to try Korean Ginseng Chicken Soup -- kyesamt'ang is the closest transliteration of the name I've seen--which seems to have tons of ginger, garlic, chile and sesame in it.

It's for people who want to pretend that they aren't drinking beer. It's that simple--it's for the self-delusional.

Yes, they do. And often as not they spin it into a soft color piece instead of a hard news story. With a tag like "local restauranters are UP IN ARMS because they say they are being mistreated by a major food review organization". Then they'd simply show an interview with any restauranter willing to be on camera, give an obligatory chance for a Zagat rep to say "we will look into this", and do no actual investigative work (record checking, searching out other restaurant owners, insisting on talking to anyone at Zagat except for a PR flack). Its SOP for these so-called "news" organizations. Channel 2 occasionally does something harder hitting. Occasionally.

Yes. And the bones from prime rib with much crunchy salt and black pepper. Prime Rib cold? Maybe, if its rare. A thinner cut of meat... I dunno. I need most steak at least room temp. I think the thicker--and rarer--it is the more likely I'll enjoy it cold. Still thinking about the whole cold fried chicken thing we started out with. Makes me want some.

Really, the question I posed before still holds: would any major media outlet (any by that I mean NY Times, CNN, Network News, Washington Post, WSJ) actually care (or dare) to do an expose? I kind of doubt it. And even if they did, it would get swallowed up in the great miasma of news we are glutted with everyday and probably wouldn't really affect the day-to-day operations or policies of Zagat all that much. Even a third rate P.R. person would know how to handle it--ignore it. The people who religiously buy the guides and follow their direction like lemmings aren't the kind of people who use a website like this, and if they DO read the Food section of the Times, they'd probably skip over an item like this. The only thing which might make a "major" story of it, is if there was some provable pattern of money changing hands in return for Zagat noticing them, and that would be going a bit further on a dirt-digging expedition than has already been suggested. And it STILL wouldn't affect their sales or the "value" of those stupid red signs much, I'll bet.

They'd probably go "eGullet who?", despite the fact that eGullet coverage has probably gotten several NJ restaurants newspaper reviews, which have been followed--naturally--by Zagat's reviews.

I always THOUGHT I'd hate them (my mother never made them), until in college, when my roomate's mother (who was damned near a gourmet chef) made them for us slathered in garlic and olive oil. There arent many veggies that don't taste good slathered in garlic aoli. Yes, and who would have brussel sprouts without garlic and oil, I mean unless you try the alternate presentation (maybe even better) using tons of GARLIC BUTTER.

I always THOUGHT I'd hate them (my mother never made them), until in college, when my roomate's mother (who was damned near a gourmet chef) made them for us slathered in garlic and olive oil.

Has the Red Savina has finally knocked out a few taste buds? The delicate taste is exactly the reason why sashimi is my favorite raw-fish preparation. That doesn't mean that I don't slather horseradish paste all over it eventually, but the rice and seaweed are sometimes even more distracting. I'm conservative with the fish I eat (usually just Tuna and Salmon), but the clean taste of a perfect piece of highest quality raw tuna is kind of a polar opposite to the sensation I get in eating a good spicy meal.

Yes, Zagat's is demanding an expose in one of the many newspapers which will never dare print it.

And I do note, Rachel, that you aren't necessarily saying that he is affiliated with the place, just that if he was there would be nothing wrong with that. RockADS21, since you've actually been to this place, do you recall anything more specific about the actual food you had? Given that the conversation has gone in a certain direction, I think we will understand that without your second visit, your observations are subject to change.

Geez, Mark. I eat SPICY food, but Red Savina dust is where I draw the line. Unlike Thai spicy peppers, or even most other habeneros, I can't seem to ever get ANY other taste through it. I mean I can deal with the heat--sort of--but I'm still enough of a foodie to want something else in my mouth as well. Does this remove me from eligibility from the Chilihead hall of fame? Ask Jason Perlow about some Red Savina Vodka and Tequila he made, by the way. You have to use it in single drops when you mix it into your drinks.

You know, the odd thing is that "raw" is about the ONLY way I like most fish. My list of things which everyone else seems to like--and I don't--would be damn near endless. The only conclusion I can come to about my list as a whole is that my strongest objections are usually based on texture instead of taste.

Nutley Resident, you have to let conversations flow naturally here. If you were objecting to scarlet knight's question instead of 201's comment, you should know that since 201 is a very astute poster he probably would have dealt with the question by pointing scarlet knight back to another thread. You didn't give him a chance to do so and wound up taking us even more off track than we would have been otherwise. Rachel is a Coordinator, by the way, not an Assistant Coordinator. I suppose you could argue that she assists Rosie in providing content, but that doesn't change her level of authority. And I didn't see her telling you that you were "out of line"--she was merely saying that scarlet knight wasn't out of line. I'd like to hear more about this restaurant. Can you give more specific details of your reactions over and above the general ones you started with? Do you have any affiliation with the restaurant? If you do, its not considered a crime here--we tend to take it at face value.

Well what about Quinoa? That's the only one nobody here has admitted to trying. Also: as far as the Corn Pasta goes... what about the idea of frying it after you boil it? Might that not help with some of the texture problems?

I've noticed that Zagat's reviews--at least in the state of New Jersey--tend to follow on the heels of newspaper reviews.

I'm holding in my hands a package of Mrs. Leeper's Corn Spaghetti, which I bought on a lark. It was located in the ever-growing "gluten-free zone" of my local Whole Foods (I personally have no problem with gluten), which also contained rice pasta and Quinoa pasta. Located across the other side of the shelf--a bit set off from both the gluten-free and the "normal" semolina-based were also a few made with Spelt--which apparently also has its own form of gluten, but people who have problems digesting "regular" wheat gluten apparently don't have as much of a problem with it. Putting aside issues about gluten sensitivity itself, are any of these products any good on their own merits? How do you sauce/prepare them?