SobaAddict70

Please tell me either that you're kidding about the price or that the $16 was for something other than mac 'n cheese. And if they did charge $16 for mac 'n cheese what did you get for that price? A half-pan? I wold hope so (only slightly kidding). ← all the sides are the same price (I think) and each comes in three sizes. the $16 is for a large. ← Yup. $16 for roughly a quart-sized cup. The accountant in me did a double-take.

...when you keep a supply of Pocky in your office desk drawer. Credit to torakris and her Foodblog for that one.

I concur for the most part. Went there on opening night with some friends. Notable standouts: Kreuz sausage, roast chicken, brisket. Prime rib was just not smoky enough and could have been cardboard in my opinion. There was some disagreement in our group though. I'd probably return in two or three months and compare notes. Their mac-n-cheese hit all the right flavor notes. I just wish the portion size would have had a little more oomph for $16.

Some of these photos are absolutely stunning. Had a light dinner last night: Chilled soba noodles, topped with grated daikon and chopped scallions. Seaweed salad, with sesame salt, chilies and rice vinegar. Broiled tofu with miso paste. No pix unfortunately since I had to recharge my batteries.

That's a ton of cabinet space. NYC apartments being what they are, I'd kill for that much storage.

Here are some pix from a few months ago. I was last there towards the end of April. Miso ice cream, extra virgin olive oil cake, wasabi candy, strawberries Escarole, anchovy, "Green Goddess" salad American "wagyu" beef carpaccio, shiso pesto cracker, sour plum, Maldon sea salt I think I'm due for a return visit now that things have been up and running for a few months. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it.

Next time, please DO sit at the counter and get a sake tasting in addition to the omakase. You'll be glad you did.

Gee, I take a break from eGullet for over three weeks and there's a thread on Olive Garden in the New York forum. (I'm half-kidding.) Anyway, dinner at Craft this past Friday with friends. We had: Roasted sweetbreads Cured and marinated octopus Crayfish risotto Pheasant and prune terrine Durco pork terrine (gratis) Rack of pork Heritage veal Striped bass Fiddlehead ferns Ramps Assorted mushroom sampler Gnocchi Brioche pain perdu/roasted pears w. caramel sauce Sorbet and ice cream sampler Mas Carlot Rose 2004 Palo Cortado Manzanilla La Gitana Sancerre Mollet 2004 Framingham Pinot Noir 2002 Espresso, mint tea, etc. The amuse was a quenelle of veal mousse which had kosher salt and mustard seed amongst other ingredients, served neatly in a porcelain Chinese soup spoon. Very interesting, not what I would normally think of an amuse-bouche. Service could use a bit of improvement. Our party of five had a 9 pm seating, and yet we received our appetizers at 10:25-10:30 pm. Marco Canora, of Hearth Restaurant, has better gnocchi in my opinion. These seemed heavier and more leaden. Perhaps the master could learn from the student in this instance. Overall, a 7/10. A bill of $476 came out to slightly over $100 per head once tips were factored in. I'll be back eventually, and hopefully not as long between visits this time. If memory serves, the last time I was at Craft was over three years ago. Soba

Time for bumpage. And also because when I think of salsa, this is one of the definitive "go-to" posts on eGullet, in my opinion. I just made a batch of this last night and I have to tell you, it's damn good. You owe it to yourself to make it when you can. Soba

Yeah, they all looked like butt except for the little cups and that other one that used a lot of very thin slices. I would've given the win to the thin slices one. ← If I were one of them, I'd have taken a page from a certain Vancouver food celebrity and made it a spectacular production: Soba

I don't know too many people who eat fish eyes. I'm sure somewhere out there that there are non-Chinese who consider them a delicacy. I've never met any though. For the record, I love them.

Braised lettuce with peas and pearl onions. Perfect for spring.

Back when I posted the teaser for Rochelle's Foodblog, I mentioned that hers was the first of two Foodblogs this spring featuring people who teach cooking for a living. Well, guess what, Janet's is the second.

It's definitely a lesson on value systems, because you would think that something like rice wouldn't cost as much as say, something like beef or strawberries.

I would like to take this moment to gently remind everyone to please refrain from crossing certain topical boundaries that are not germane to food. Thanks.

PR had a so-so first season in the sense that the ratio of fashion school graduates to professionals in the industry was on a 2:1 basis. Since this is the first season of Top Chef, I expect things to be the same. If the show does well enough for a season 2, perhaps things will be reversed going forward.

Some questions: What the hell is a gastrique? I know that plating is a skill but I wasn't clear on why some people were kicked off for nerves. How slow is "slow"? (I'm talking about the quickfire challenge where quite a few were booted for not being quick enough when it came to plating.)

Is fish the same way? And things like tofu, etc. Besides fruit, do vegetables tend to be expensive?

Food costs for a week or a month, be it groceries or weekly food shopping or eating out. All of that qualifies. Why is rice so expensive?

In the umeboshi thread, Kristin mentioned this: A container of kimchi that costs over 700 yen doesn't sound expensive, does it? It got me to thinking...how much do you usually spend for food per week in Japan? I know that Japanese workers get paid once a month. That must make for some fairly interesting fluctuations.

i've personally seen a lot of famous chefs do this. i thought they were just making a fuss because its on camera. ← I immediately thought, food safety issues. Mr. Colicchio had this to say in his blog: What do you think?

I really thought for sure that Andrea would get the boot. I think someone described the kale as "a bit rocky". And Cynthia doesn't seem long-lived either. (She prepared the "crazy rice".)

So I'm watching it now. Tom Colicchio (Gramercy Tavern, Craft) is one of the judges of the series. Each episode there are two challenges, an immunity or "quickfire" challenge, and an elimination challenge. Tonight's quickfire was to hold the line for 30 minutes in Chef Keller's kitchen at Fleur de Lys without being told to leave; tonight's elimination is to create a signature dish for $30 or less food cost. One thing that surprised me so far was Ken, who though with 13 years of restaurant experience, tasted a sauce with his finger and put it back into the pot.

Of Scrabble and Food (includes a mini-review of Whym)