guzzirider

After stretching out the dough, I only let it sit long enough to put the toppings on it, then directly to the oven it goes. __Jason

Tell him they sell it because it tastes good! Some people are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice in the name of delicious food: http://winnipegsun.com/SundayFocus/2007/02/16/3638741.html __Jason

Back to the OP's issue. I was thinking about this.... do you know for a fact that your oven is getting hot enough? Do you have an oven thermometer? Its entirely possible that your oven is not heating up as fast as you think... especially if you are using a stone. It took me very close to an hour to get my oven up to 500 one night last week... and I normally like to hit 550+. The cold ambient temps this time of year don't help either. So... if you don't have an oven thermometer... get one! If you have one, nevermind! __Jason

Interesting. I've heard that some people have a genetic trait that mucks with their ability to taste cilantro (me... I love the stuff!) Is it possible that some people have the same issue with parsley? I like parsley. I use it at home. What I don't like are the places that put the giant sprigs of curly parsley on the plate like some sort of ornament. Come to think of it, I usually end up eating that too... :-) __Jason

Ahh... a Cabbage Cleanse! The participants of the steak taste test might have benefited from eating a bowl of cabbage afterwards... just to keep everything... um... nevermind... __Jason

You must have worked in my high school cafeteria! __Jason

Only if he's trying to make deep-dish, which he apparently wasn't. I make both deep dish, and thin crust... and they're both real good, but two completely different animals. Can't apply methods of one to the other... just won't work. BTW... I think I'm going to lobby for changing the name of "Chicago deep-dish pizza" to something a bit less confusing... like "Chicago casserole", as that seems like a more appropriate name! Just kidding! __Jason

I'll also 2nd the notion that you have too much toppings, or too thick a crust. I do my pizza @ 550+ degrees, but I like 'em quite thin. when stretched out, my dough is probably 2-3 mm in thickness. I've never really measured the sauce, but I'm going to make a wild guess that I use about 4 oz per 14" pizza. Just enough to smear around, but you still want to be able to see the dough through the sauce. Cheese always spreads when it melts, so this is another place where you need to fight the urge to put on too much. Start out very light on your toppings until you get the hang of it. Mine usually takes about 4-5 minutes and it's done. Oh, and for anyone else that's thinking of trying their hand at pizza (I'm relatively new at it myself!), but don't have a stone, I *highly* recommend picking up some UNGLAZED quarry tile from your local home improvement store. Cost me about $5 to line the entire bottom rack of my oven, and it works wonderfully! __Jason

Consider this post a palette cleanser for your brain. Ok... continue.... __Jason

While I guess everyone is free to speak their minds, there does appear to be a strange Bella-Meritage axis of mean persnicketyness in here the last couple of days. See above and here. ← I don't want to derail anything here, but I just wanted to note that Meritage has since changed hands... and as of last week, got a new chef as well. Carry on! __Jason

Standard Tap is an interesting choice... I might not have chosen it as a "romantic" place, however, it is where I met my wife for the first time, so there is that. I might add Radicchio to the list... not coincidentally, this is where Cherie and I our first "real" dinner date after meeting. Being able to show up at a BYO on a motorcycle, in leathers with a bottle of wine stuffed in your jacket is our idea of "romantic"... and Radicchio was perfect. Had our first anniversary dinner there as well. __Jason

Lately I've been exploring the world of pizza. Tonight was a very thin-crust pie w/ sweet italian sausage: A few weeks ago, it was a deep dish, with sausage and pepperoni. I've observed deep dish pizzas being made on numerous occasions, but this was my first attempt at it, and it it turned out nearly perfect, much to my suprise: For the deep dish, I used this recipe from pizzamaking.com, and it was wonderfull... it was exactly what I was expecting: http://www.pizzamaking.com/dkm_chicago.php Edit: fixed images __Jason

I actually use a 5 quart LC oval "french oven". As noted in my post above, I've only made a couple of these so far, but the last one turned out great. I don't do much to shape it... after it has risen the first time, I take it out and fold it - like a letter fold, first one way, then the other. This results in a sort of oblong doughball, which then sits for 2 hours. The oblong shape fits nicely in the oval pot. __Jason

[Moderator's note: The original Minimalist No-Knead Bread Technique topic became too large for our servers to handle efficiently, so we've divided it up; the preceding part of this discussion is here: Minimalist No-Knead Bread Technique (Part 1)] Add me to the cult of No Knead! Although I'm a fairly decent cook, I've never done much baking, and figured this would be great practice. This is my second loaf... the first was using the original no knead recipe, which seemed to call for too much water. My second attempt with the revised recipe seemed to work wonderfully: Edit: fixed image link __Jason

I was hoping Wegman's would have been sampled as well. Perhaps next time. All in all, I'm saddened by these results. It just seems that for the time being, us mere mortals are S.O.L. For me, planning in advance and ordering from Lobel's wouldn't be much of a problem. The question I have now, however, is: how will a mail-order Lobel's steak compare to one picked up fresh in NY? Oh, I believe someone else inquired about this as well, but I'd like some details on the cooking method as well. I'm assuming they were strictly pan-seared, with no roasting involved, right? Also, what sort of advantage does the carbon steel pan have over cast iron, which is what I would normally use for this? __Jason

Wegman's actually sells both. I've seen wet-aged in the cooler side-by-side with dry-aged, both in cryovac packages. I haven't eaten enough of either from Wegman's to form an opinion on them, though. I think the last thing I bought from there (beef-wise) was skirt steak that I used with AB's fajita marinade. It was groin-grabbingly good, but I really have to attribute that to the marinade. __Jason

When a first place opens, I don't expect the food and/or service to be 100% right out of the gates. Likewise, any reviews of recently opened restaurants, I take with a grain of salt. I don't doubt that the OP had a bad experience, and he called it like he saw it. Subsequent reviews came in that seemed much better, and the place may, in fact, be getting better... sort of to be expected. The only part of the original review that *really* sticks in my craw (and it may be irrelevant to the average Joe walking in off the street) is that they said "we want to cook for you", which typically means they want to take special care of you, but then proceeded to give them run-of-the-mill food/service and a full-charge bill. I don't care if you're open for 1 day, or 10 years... that was a crappy move by the proprietors, IMHO. Like I said, most people will never have this offer, so it may not matter so much in the grand scheme of things. However, when I'm out eating and am someone offers to take care of us, or sends over extra stuff we didn't ask for as a friendly gesture or whatever, if I then get billed for said gesture... I'd be pissed. And I think the OP had every right to be. The way I see it, if the place crumbles and falls simply because of one terrible review on eGullet, then the place probably wasn't long for this world anyway. Just my $0.02. __Jason

Hey... if supplying probe thermometers would help get me a seat at that tasting table, I've got 2 of 'em I can bring to the party! :-) Seriously, though... I hope you guys can pull off a taste test like that. The results might be one of the more interesting things I've seen on eGullet in a while. I really like that idea... could be a regular feature here on eGullet. Sort of like Cooks Illustrated taste tests, only the tests by eGulleteers could be open for discussion afterwards. __Jason

I'm pretty much right there with ya. I made wings a couple weeks ago, and went to whole foods to pick up some blue cheese dressing... the stuff I've gotten there before (in the dairy area) was the best I've ever had. Well, no more. Now all they carry are some fru-fru blue cheese salad dressings (in the "salad section"). I was stunned. Kept running around the store looking for it. Looks like if I want a proper, chunky blue cheese dressing, I'll have to start making my own, because none of the stuff I'm finding in the stores seems to live up to my expectations anymore. __Jason

Because it's not the only product that Whitehall Lane sells, and if they have any hopes of selling any of the other labels in PA, they take what the PLCB gives them on the CS. Its PA's famous "buying power" in action. __Jason

They should have just labeled it a 12.99 wine and been done with it. No "suggested price", no nothing... it's a custom-blended wine, you can only get it from one source, and it will only ever be one price. The "discount" thing is just marketing, and IMHO, disingenuous. __Jason

Who knows... the restaurant has new ownership now, and I'm assuming the kitchen has changed as well. At this point, I'm going to wait and see what the place turns into this Feb. As far as I'm concerned, the old Goji is gone, and whatever turns up in Feb is going to be a completely different place, to be judged on it's own merits, rather than be compared to "what was". __Jason

And here's a quote from a discussion about this on Phillyblog: Glad I'm not the only one emotionally scarred by this. __Jason

And based on some impromptu blind tasting at a party last week, I'm willing to say it may not be a $12 wine either (the merlot was consistently beat out by a readily available $9.99 selection) __Jason

Goji, as we knew it, appears to be dead. Word is that Japanese-owned Japanese restaurant (a rarity in Philly) has changed hands. You can still find the old menu on their website (http://gojirestaurant.com), but the new menu, which was put in place on the first of the year, is a mere shadow of it's former self. All of "traditional Edo" dishes have been ripped out, except for the soba noodles. No more onigiri, no more agedashi tofu, no more tonkatsu... minimized sushi menu... and not a single Japanese treat on the dessert menu either (but they do have key lime cheesecake, and an ice cream bomba... ugh). And the sake selection (which was never that great... my biggest complaint previously) was whittled down to a single "jug" selection last night. Weak. The new menu is very americanized. Seared tuna w/ wasabi mashed potatoes, anybody? This makes me very sad... and a little angry, as I have been a big cheerleader of theirs, and have turned on a number of friends to the place who may not have found it otherwise. It seems they may have been cursed by location, and perhaps american distaste for any Japanese that's not "fusion". Oh, well... as they say, it's better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all... I'll miss you Goji... __Jason