Artichoke

It is done freehand and you can make the specifications you want.

I took my knives to Henry Westpfal for the first time last month and I was very satisfied with the results. There is the extra bonus that they are located right near Korea town, where I went for lunch after picking up my knives. Henry Westpfal uses a wet wheel method in which the blade is pressed against a spinning wheel frequently lubricated with water. I brought in 4 Wusthof knives (I like the heft of Wustof). The prices were: Pairing knife $3.95 8 inch chef's Knife $5.25 10 inch chef's knife $8.00 Santoku knife $5.25 I do not know if that is considered pricey, but my knives are precious to me, so spending $23.45 to have them properly handled was worth it in my opinion. They insist that you inspect all of your knives before leaving and if you find any imperfections, they will fix it on the spot. It is so incredibly pleasurable doing food preperation with an extremely sharp knife, it makes all the difference in the world. When I was a kid I used to be transfixed watching sushi chefs sharpen thier own knives on a stone. It is a goal of mine to learn how to do that. Until then, I will continue to take my knives to Henry Westpfal. 107 West 30th St. (off of 6th Ave.) 212-563-5990 Closed weekends

I am still perplexed as to why so many people are so anxiously awaiting Bruni's review. Positve, negative, or in between, It will be the one of the least value added reviews the Times can possibly run. Of course the Times has to review Per Se, but does anyone believe that there is going to be some keen insight revealed that has not already been discused ad nauseum by others. If Bruni's review falls short of what people's opinion of Per Se is, will that also come as a surprise? Bruni's short comings as a reviewer are already well established, so what? I came to peace a long time ago that this City is not recruiting the quality reviewers of the past, like Bryan Miller of the Times, or Gail Green of New York Magazine. The New York Times does not shape my opinion on anything else, least of all where I am going to eat. My opinion is, give me a review I can use. I well aware of Keller's skill set and there is plenty of text already on his restaurant. How about a review on some restaurant few of us may be aware of or been to for a whle? That would grab my attention, that I would be eager to read. I have lived here all my life but there are always culinary discoveries to be had, how about some insight on those. Just as there are only so many times pundits can analyze this election before it becomes repetative, there is only so much insight one can have on a damn restaurant, regardless of who is providing it.

Thank you for the suggestion of Barrington, it sounds very nice, particularly the fact that they have only 15 tables. I just left a message there to try and get a reservation. Spoons was not terrible, it just was not great. I had been to Big Bob Gibsons in Decatur, AL a couple of months before and there was no comparison. However, I did think the tea and hush puppies at Spoons were very good. Plus, the girl I was with and who is a self-proclaimed Nana pudding expert deemed Spoons version to be delicious.

I am heading back down to Charlotte, NC and was curious if anyone has been to Bonterra on Cleveland Ave. After a couple of visits to Charlotte, I have not been all that impressed with the dining scene. I think the best meal by far is to be had at Price's Chicken Coop, it is outstanding. Good BBQ is non existant, despite what some people say about Bill Spoons. As for more upscale dining I have only tried Zebra, which was ok, with an impressive wine list. I need another upscale restaurant to try. I have not found much written on Bonterra and I know nothing about the chef. When you go to the Who's Who section of their website, the only person mentioned is the managing partner, with no mention of who the chef is. Bonterra

In preperation for the return of oyster season, I have finaly got around to reading M.F.K Fisher's "Consider the Oyster." I also just received my newest cookbook, "Heart and Soul" by Kylie Kwong. I became enamored with this Aussie chef ever since discovering her show on the Discovery Home channel. I am looking forward to cooking her red braised brisket, her slow cooked honeycomb tripe and crispy skin duck with blood plum sauce. Born into one of Australia's oldest Chinese families (she is fifth generation), the book has lots of interesting text about her family and the stories behind her dishes. The food is a combination of Chinese and contemporary Australian cuisine, along with some French techniques.

I cannot wait for Bruni to review Per Se, if only because I am so bloody tired of the whole star speculation. I have not eaten at Per Se yet, but I did eat at French Laundry earlier this year. There is no argument that Keller is one of our nation's most talented chefs. Does the Times give him 4 stars?, the NY Post gave him three, who the hell cares? I understand that for restaurants the stars mean a great deal. However, in my opinion, the quality of most reviewers in our City is at a point that should render their stars (and some of their reviews) largely meaningless to the dining public.

Frank Bruni gave two stars to 71 Clinton this morning. Having just eaten there this past Saturday (my review is in an earlier post) night and having had a couple of dishes at the bar a couple of months ago, I think Bruni is way off. Yes, the young 27 year old chef, Jason Neroni has potential, but, trust me, he did not "boldly" remake the menu. There is nothing bold about about Neroni's food, I wish there were. There was a glimpse of boldness when he was serving a delicious ragu of crayfish tails and crispy sweet breads a couple of months ago, but that is no longer available. Instead there are skinless, tough duck breast, foams and pallid consumes pourd over dishes. I did not find the trout tartare "riveting", unless that is the adjective one uses when a chef crams as many flavors as possible into one dish. Raw trout has a delicate taste and sillky texture, which gets completely lost when combined with mustard seeds, chorizo oil, and pine nuts. Bruni describes a skate wing "with a foam that mingles flavors in a tantalizing way, rendering each of them almost discernable but not quite, like a word on the tip of your tongue." Does it really Frank? Is the foam taste like a word on the tip of your tongue? What the hell is that? Is Amanda Hesser ghost writing for Bruni? I long for the days of Bryan Miller when restaurant reviews read like restaurant reviews, not something out of a freshman creative writing class. Bruni is correct when he sites the cramped spacing of the tables. He is also dead on when he writes of "endless sawing to penetrate a tough duck breast." I felt his pain with that dish. I will close with this beauty "when one of my friends waded into a salad of dandelion and pea greens, arugula, heirloom tomatoes and purple and yellow flowers, he happily sighed, 'This is like an antidepressant.' Frank, time for some new friends. 71 Clinton

I had dinner at 71 Clinton this past Saturday night. As I mentioned in a previous post, I was encouraged to eat there after trying one dish at the bar a couple of months ago, a delicious ragout of crawfish tails and crispy sweat breads. Well, like the song "Too shy, shy" was for Kajagoogoo, the dish I had seems to have been a one hit wonder for chef Jason Neroni. At 27, he is young and clearly has potential, it simply was not on display the evening I ate there. The food at 71 Clinton is not bad, it is simply not at all memorable, completely misses in some dishes and seems to be driven by a chef trying too hard. The first thing that struck me was the layout. I am fully aware of how tight margins are in the restaurant business and how important it is to maximize table space, however, 71 Clinton is an extreme. The majority of the tables are lined up against the main wall opposite the bar. While the tables are individuall you might as well been sitting at a communal one. There was literaly about 4 inches between each table, anytime someone seated against the wall wanted to exit, a table had to be completely pulled out. Not to mention that you were sharing the conversation with the table on either side of you while having to shout to have your own. I started with an order of frogs legs and the girl I was with ordered diver scallops. I appreciate a restuarant offering frogs legs, but this preperation was very dull. A few sauteed frogs legs, whose meat had been pushed down to one end in a lollipop fashion stood in a bowl, then a waiter came by with a small pitcher and poured a warm clear broth or consume over the dish. The pouring of a clear broth is a big thing at 71 Clinton and would show up again with our entrees. If I had to guess, I would say the broth was vegetable, either way, it was devoid of much taste and added nothing to the dish but liquid. My dinner date faired better with two large and plump diver scallops, nicely seared on ither side. Served with what was described as an olive nage, the scallops were very sweet and barely cooked inside. For entrees, I had what was described as slow cooked duck breast with smoked red pepper consume and truffled baby lettuce, my date had cod with mixed vegetables, licorice and brown butter fume. I am passionate about duck and as much as I loath chicken breast, I love it off of a duck. What an easy thing to prepare, a rich dark meat, a skin that crisps so nicely and a layer of fat to flavor the flesh. Imagaine my dissapointemnt then when I was presented with a bowl containing four or five batons of skinless duck meat. It was unrecognizable cut as it was in perfect rectangles and the taste, what taste? The duck meat was tough, it took 8 strokes of my knife to cut through it (I counted). It was devoid of much flavor, with the taste and texture of a dull piece of beef. Ah, but here comes the waiter to pour a consume over the meat. As Julia Child would say, add butter. Add some kind of fat to carry the taste, it is bad enough the kitchen stripped the poor bird of its skin, put some kind of fat back in the dish. I imagine this kind of dish being served at the Canyon Ranch. A small deep bowl of salad that came with the duck made no sense. The lettuce leaves were too big to eat whole (a pet peeve of mine), you could not cut them in the small bowl and I could not put them on my dish which was filled with a tasteless consume. My date's cod was cooked well, just barely done throug the center and topped with a gray foam. Yes, a foam. Are we not pass this silly stage in food preperation? It added nothing to the dish and looked odd. It reminded me of when I as a kid and I would put bubble bath suds on my head. We did not stay for dessert. Once outside I asked my date if she felt satisfied, bless her heart she said no. It was 11:00 PM and I took her straight to Casa Mono for a second, and entirely satisfying dinner. G-D Bless Andy Nusser.

I am going to 71 Clinton Fresh Food (I wish they would shorten that name) on Saturday night and was curious if anyone has been there recently. The restaurant's replacement for Wylie Dufrense, Matt Renguin, left in February and the kitchen is now headed by a 27 year old chef named Jason Neroni who was most recently the chef de cuisine at the Tasting Room. I did have a couple of his dishes when I stopped in there for a late snack a couple of months ago. A ragout of crispy sweet breads and crawfish tails was good enough to make me want to return. However the other two dishes I tried I did not care for. A Tasmanian trout tatare was over powered by pickled mustard seeds and the silky texture of the fish was disrupted by the addition of pine nuts. A poached foie gras dish just did not work with the foie gras being flabby and lacking in flavor. I will report back.

I was last in Napa over Christmas and New Years. Two lesser known wineries I would suggest are Summers and Pride. I have attached links to both of their web sites. Summers is one of my favorites. Like a lot of the Napa wineries before they became discovered, Summers consists of what is basically a shack in front of their vinyards. The owner is inside pouring wine and is incredibly friendly. If you are interested in purchassing he will simply take you out back to the storage room to see what he has in stock. It is just a great, very informal winery with some fantastic wines. They are one of the only vinyards in the country growing the charbono grape and their charbono wine is the best thing they offer, I always have a case on hand in my apartment. It is a rather mysterious grape whose orgins are debated, some say Northern Italy, some say southern France, it is fairly difficult to find it in Europe anymore. It produces a wine that is dark and plum colored. The taste is rich, full bodied, velvety, a lot of black cherry and blackberry flavor and the taste lingers in your mouth for a long time. They recently issued their 2002 vintage which retails for $24, I think they produced something like 900 cases. In addition to charbono, they also produce merlot, zinfandel, chevalier noir (65% Napa valley cabernet and 35% Knights Valley merlot), chardonnay and cabernet. The other vinyard I love is Pride Mountain. It is not as small as Summers but also a very modestly sized 170 acre estate that is one of the most stunning in the area. In order to get to it you drive up and around a mountain with the vinyard located at the summit. At the top you have a beautiful view of St. Helena mountain and the vinyards. You have to call to make an appointment to visit. The caves are amazing, built under the hillside and oprning out into a glass enclosed space that gives you beautiful views of northern Napa and the vineyards. Their wines are great, but a bit expensive, their 2001 Cabernet is sold for $56, but is delicious, big (14% alcohol) rich with lots and lots of dark berry taste. They also produce merlot, cabernet franc, viognier, chardonnay, a reserve cabernet and a reserve claret. Summers Winery Pride Mountain Vineyards

I wholeheartedly agree with Jenny and Nathan. The last time I went was about seven or eight years ago when I was dating a girl from London. She had heard about it and wanted to go. While it was amusing for a girl from across the Pond, I found it miserable. It is the same food that is present at any of the many street fairs throught the City at various times during the Spring and Summer. What Italian food was represented was as poor as what is served in the overwhelming majority of Little Italy's restaurants.

The new issue of New York magazine reviews some of the issues that have surffaced since the opening of the Time Warner building. While taking into account that it is still in its infancy, I never had high hopes for the space myself. At best I felt there was no way it could live up to the hype at worst I thought it would be an outright flop. For one thing there are far too many egos under one roof. I have the utmost respect for the cooking talents of the likes Keller, Vongerichten and Trotter. However, having followed their careers since prior to their fame, their sense of themselves is getting out of whack. Whether you are the best chef, neurosurgeon or statesman, maintaining a sense of humbleness is a good thing. All three of these chef's are spread too thin. I am all for a person attempting to make as much money as possible, G-D bless them. I do not begrudge these chef's one bit for attempting to capitalize on their current fame. However, lets be honest about it, it is hard to see how the food will not suffer. Secondly, and I say this without the slightest bit of snobbishness, Manhattan is not a mall city. Whether gilded with the finest in shopping and eating or not, a mall is a mall. They have their place in many cities, just not this one. Part of the fun of shopping and eating in Manhattan is exploring her many varied neighborhoods. Here is the article: Time Warner Raw

I ate at Hearth for the first time this past Friday night. Thank you to MichaelZ for providing me with some guidence as to what to order. The service was very nice, particularly the hostess (cute blonde, short curly hair). I had about a 15-20 minute wait for my 9:00 PM table, but she kept me regularly updated on the status despite being busy herself. While waiting for our table, myself and the girl I was with had a few drinks at the bar. She really enjoyed her drink of choice, the Jules Verne. It is the first drink listed under the "libations" portion of Hearth's Wine and drink menu. It contains Champalou Vouvray Brut, cantaloupe sorbet and lemonade. It is not my kind of thing, but I tried it and it was pretty good, not too sweet although it gets gradualy sweeter as the sorbet melts. While overall, my meal was good, my major complaint with Hearth was where I was seated. Next to the main dining room is a narrow long room. The first quarter of the room is the kitchen and a row of seats at a counter overlooking the action. The rest of the room are tables which is where I was seated. I do not mind at all being cut off from the main room, I go out to eat not to see and be seen. However the room is simply too hot. I understand it is near the kitchen, but the restaurant should compensate for that fact. It realy detracts from a meal if you are too warm. We had three appetizers to start, the roasted quail with faro, cucumber, tomato and quail egg, marinated sardines, and the red wine braised octopus with celery root, potato and celery. The quail was good, most importantly it was not overcooked as is so easy to do with such a little bird, the meat was a bit pink and moist. Someone at the bar was eating the same dish and her circular mound of faro, cucumber and tomato ws toped by a fried quail egg, ours came with the egg hard boiled and spilt in half. A small matter, although having the yolk to break into the faro would have been much better, a hard boiled quail egg does nothing for me. The sardines were excellent. They had a beautifuly soft texture and their flavor was not overpowered by their curing, something I have experianced in other restaurants. The octopus was a big dissapointment. I love octopus in all of its forms, raw, braised, boiled, this was simply bad. I have read very good reviews of the dish, so I will give Hearth the benifit of the doubt and assume I unfortunately recieved a bad peice of octopus. The flesh had a mushy texture and was fishy tasting, two characteristics octopus should not have. I did enjoy the cubes of celery root that came with the octopus. It is one of my favorite root vegetables and not utilized enough in my opinion. As a main I had the lamb and the girl I was with had the monkfish as the restaurant was out of the pork loin she originally had wanted. The lamb was good, cooked medium rare as requested. I particularly liked the fact that it tasted like lamb. One of my biggest pet peeves are when meats are bred to where any hint of gaminess is gone and you end up with what tastes like bland beef. The lamb sausage that accompinied the slices of loin was nothing special and dry, however the lamb rib that was also on the plate was fantastic. I would have been happy with a plate of simply that. The meat on the rib had a deep lamb flavor and the meat was unctious, tender and wonderfuly fatty. The monkfish was good, wrapped in prosciutto, and cooked so that the flesh was very most. I do not order it often, but I do enjoy the firm meat of monkfish. I had two sides, the gnocchi and the hen of the woods mushrooms. The gnocchi were good, nice and creamy, helped by a generous topping of course ground black pepper. The mushrooms were excellent. Firm, not overly oiled, the base was tender while the frilly top was crisp, and had a deep mushroom flavor. The flavor of the crisp top was earthy and great. I had a good Argentinian red whose name escapes me and I do not see on Hearth's on line wine list. It was pricey at $96, but had good deep plumb and cherry flavors and rounded tannins. We were a bit full by the time dessert came around, we opted for the mixed sorbet and mixed ice cream. The sorbet was a scoop of rasberry, honeydew with lime and cantalope. The honeydew with lime was my favorite, very refreshing and not too sweet. The cantalope had a good deep melon flavor. The ice creams were cherry, vanilla and peanut brittle. The vanilla and cherry were ok, the peanut brittle however was very good. The saltiness of the brittle hits you first and, followed by the sweetness of the ice cream. Hearth is certainly a restaurant I would return to, however I would make a point of specifically asking for a table in the main dining room. It is one instance where I cannot stand the heat in the kitchen.

"Superchefs like Jean-Georges Vongerichten generally expand their far-flung superchef empires for two reasons. One is love, and the other, more common, is money...V Steakhouse doesn’t feel like a labor of love. It feels like a money job, which is disappointing, considering the chef’s considerable talents... Steak, Not Well Done

As a child I was enraptured by her television show and the very first things I cooked were the foods I watched her make. It should certainly be celebrated that she lived such a full and long life, yet her passing still saddens me deeply. It without exageration when I say that she had a very definite and positive influence on my life. I bow my head in respect and mourn her passing, she will always remain a blessed memory to me. May G-D bless her soul and comfort her family. Some of my favorite Julia quotes: - I was 32 when I started cooking; up until then, I just ate. - Life itself is the proper binge. - Noncooks think it's silly to invest two hours' work in two minutes' enjoyment; but if cooking is evanescent, so is the ballet.

I am finally getting around to going to Hearth this Friday evening and I was curious if anyone has eaten there recently. I searched for threads but I just came up with a Q&A with the chef and some very nice pictures of some of the food. Thanks in advance for any feedback.

I had yet another meal at Landmarc recently, my fifth since the Spring. I am still impressd every time I receive the bill as to how reasonable the prices are. Having happily eaten my way through all of Landmarc's offal offerings as well as a cow's worth of their roasted marrow bones, I ordered differently this time. I started with a small order of the mussels in white wine, shallots and parsley. Sadly, they were overcooked. I have tried the same dish on other occasions at Landmarc when the people I was with had ordered them and they were cooked perfectly, so perhaps this was an off night. I do wonder about cooking mussles in cast iron pots as Landmarc does. It makes for a nice presentation, but there is so much residual heat with cast iron, that unless they are served immediately, the musels will continue to cook. The saving grace was that the liquid at the bottom of the pot was very tasty when soaked up with the crusty bread. My ribeye was delicious. Cooked medium rare as I had ordered it, wonderfuly fatty and full of beefy flavor. My side of roasted wild mushrooms were very good as well a big improvement over the last time I had them when they were overly salted. For dessert, myself and the girl I was with had it all (I do no know how the rest of you men feel, but I can not go out with a woman who does not eat well). My favorite as always at Landmarc was the blueberry crumble, the nougat glace was so-so, nothing special, creme brulee was good with a nice thick sugar shell, and the peach, berry and coconut sorbets we had were all very good, fresh tasting, and not too sweet. I drank a wine that I have written about previously when reviewing Landmarc, Quintessa 2000 from Rutherford. It is a pricey bottle at around $95, however, not only is there a zero percent mark up, I have seen it at Morrell wines for a few dollars more. It is a 60% cabernet, 40% merlot blend and is one of my favorite new wines. Full of deep berry, cherry and plumb flavors, round, soft tannins, the taste lingers in your mouth for an incredibly long time.

An emerging wine region Dreams of Napa by the Sound Where the vinyards are Cruising the wine country A review of the wines Reviews by Lawrence Osborne

The sauteed veal kidneys that April Bloomfield serves are the best I have had. Simply prepared, tender, great flavor.

I would have to dispute your friend's comment. My girlfriend's mother is middle aged and as white as Bama cotton.

My girlfriend was raised in the Northern Alabama city of Decatur. Like any good Southerner she remains rooted to her birthplace and while having since moved to Charlotte, her heart remains in the Yellowhammer state. Many of her childhood memories revolve around the food she ate. One of her most distinctive memories was being sent by her mother to go behind their house to pick pokeweed for poke salad. Her mother would served it cooked with bacon and would sometimes add chopped eggs to it. I like to think of myself as well versed in all manor of edible flora and fauna, both common and uncommon, however, until meeting my girlfriend I had never heard of pokeweed. From what little I have read about it there are various levels of toxicity asociated with it's root and leaves. I have yet to try it although I am very interested to. I may have the opportunity soon as my girlfriend's gardner has found it growing behind her new house in Charlotte. The gardner views it as a weed and wants to rid the yard of it, I asked for a reprieve for some of the plants. Does anyone have experience with pokeweed? How have you eaten it?

I just found the article you are referring to Food Stores: A Broader Menu

I am not from the South, but I sure love her food and enjoy my Southern Foodways Alliance membership. I just received this in my e-mail and thought I would pass it along in case any eGulleters wish to enter. Deviled Egg Invitational The Southern Foodways Alliance, an institute of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi, seeks deviled egg recipes and recollections. Let the world know about how your family reunions revolve around eating deviled yard eggs. Tell us about how your aunt piped her filling with a pastry bag. Tell us a story of 100 or so words about what deviled eggs have meant to you and your people. Include a recipe and please detail the recipe's provenance. Email submissions to deviledeggs@olemiss.edu are highly preferred. Deadline for entries is August 31. Three finalists will be announced on September 15. The winner will receive a free pass to the Southern Foodways Symposium, to be held October 7-10 in Oxford, Mississippi. That Friday, the King or Queen of Deviled Eggs will be crowned at a tasting of deviled eggs and champagne, staged on the Oxford Square. All qualifying entries will be included in an online deviled egg diary that we'll share with the world by way of our website, www.southernfoodways.com. (By the way, when you send your deviled egg tale our way, you grant us the right to publish it free of charge, both online and as printed text.) Questions should be directed to Melissa Hall, Mistress of Deviled Eggs, at deviledeggs@olemiss.edu. A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE DEVILED EGG The Southern Foodways Alliance is interested in the history of deviled eggs. What's more, we are interested in matters of nomenclature, like explicating the difference between a true deviled egg and what some folks know as a stuffed egg. Here's what we know: - Deviled eggs are usually hard-boiled eggs from which the yolks have been removed, creamed with mayonnaise, spiked with mustard and other piquant condiments, and then lovingly stuffed back into the whites. - A perusal of the library reveals that the cookery term deviled has been in use since at least the early nineteenth century. In his 1830 work, The Sketch Book, Washington Irving used the term to refer to a highly seasoned dish similar to curry. - In time, deviled eggs came to be standard fare at church picnics, family reunions, and box suppers. Perhaps a good measure of the popularity of deviled eggs comes from their portability. Back in the early days of auto travel, when decent restaurants were few, a shoebox filled with fried chicken and a sleeve of wax paper-wrapped deviled eggs was a preferred on-the-road meal. For African Americans in the age of Jim Crow, a shoebox stuffed with good eats was not so much a gustatory choice as a matter of practicality in an out-of-kilter world that often denied them seating alongside white diners. Here's what we would like to know: - Why did deviled eggs become so popular down South? Is our portability theory valid? Or did rural Southerners have lots of hens and thus lots of eggs? Was the rise of the broiler industry a factor? The SFA welcomes your theories, your recipes, your recollections. And one more thing: Please don't dismiss our invitational as an exercise in camp nostalgia, foisted upon you by eaters pining for the good ol' days when the preferred American amuse bouche was a tin of Jiffy Pop, and the transcontinental entrée of choice was a Swanson's turkey dinner, its readiness for the table signaled by the ping of a Radar Range. No, we like our deviled eggs served absent the irony that informs much of what some call comfort food. And we resent the tendency to serve deviled eggs with a wink, a nod, and a sly smile of condescension. In the hands of a competent cook supplied with quality ingredients, deviled eggs speak to the inherent virtue of Southern cookery and, by extension, the unsullied appeal of provincial cookery the world over. Mary Beth Lasseter Southern Foodways Alliance Center for the Study of Southern Culture P.O. Box 1848 - Barnard Observatory University, MS 38677 662.816.2055 sfamail@olemiss.edu www.southernfoodways.com

The New York Times had an interesting article yesterday about how managers of both commercial and rental buildings are increasingly receptive to renting or selling retail space to specialty food stores as opposed to ordinary supermarkets or delis. I think it is a great trend that we all stand to benifit from. (registration req.) Growing Appeal of Specialty Food Stores