irodguy

Many people in my office bring lunch. I bring my lunch three days a week or so.

raw oysters, sea urchin.

I would compare it pretty much head to head with Plugra. It's a great "bang for the buck"

Tuna encrusted with Sesame seeds Rare with a Soy honey ginger sauce Seared Salmon, normally the thinner tail portion best for a really nice sear. Over cucumber salad Freshly caught Spanish mackerel A really good grouper sandwich

I second the cm European butter. Great for baking. I am having blood orange italian soda withdrawl. I meant to make it to Central Market today..... but just didn't make it.

Yep the darn blood orange is addicting. Since they started selling it a bottle has never lasted me more than one day.

Lamb osso bucco -- Lamb shanks 1.67 LB @ Sams but have to buy a case. So yes I have fixed much Lamb osso bucco. 40 clove chicken coq a vin Curried Fish

When you call your favorite restaurant for reservations and they tell you "they will make room" but only if you bring a batch of cookies

Of course you don't have to go to Lanny's. You can just go to Joe Ts. It's were I take may out of towners.

My current favorite knife is my Shun 10 inch chefs. Now for away from home jobs I am now using Sanelli knives. Their Japanese vegetable knife rocks.

http://www.guidelive.com/portal/page?_page...L&item_id=25574 made the top 10 new restaurants of 2004. Now if you are looking for kind of an interesting "dive" well maybe a little better than dive try Jazz Cafe. We meet there on Saturday's for breakfast frequently. The owner / cook / jazz dude often gets up and blows the horn for a while then gets around to cooking your food. http://www.guidelive.com/portal/page?_page...AL&item_id=5002

Then again when I think about it a good runner up to best burger would be the Caviar burger that Andrews here in Dallas used to make. Yes I said Caviar It was a burger with chopped red onion, eggs, sour cream and black caviar. It was quite tasty!

Potato does soak up salt. A few years ago we had a crawfish boil. We added a lot of spice. Including an large sams size cayenne powder. The first batch was ok, then we cooked the Potato with the next batch. Totally bland tasted like mushy corn flakes. The next day I asked my friend who is from New Orleans. He told us to add an entire box of kosher salt and don't cook the "veggies" until you are done cooking the mud bugs. We did what he suggested and it rocked. Another point is Indian style Potato dishes. Many of these call for a considerable amount of Salt because the potato "soaks it up"

A Tenderloin or Ribeye is not that bad. You pay less and have a lot of great scrap to make stock from. On the other hand cutting up a Sirloin now that's another story

When you rush home to see if your new knives arrived via Fedex.

When friends opening new restaurants call you to be there pre-opening taste tester.

There are many Gumbo recipes that don't use sausage at all. I am planning to make a dark meat chicken version later this week. Have fun in the warm. Here in Dallas we keep flip flopping from 70s to 20s. No snow so it's all good

For "real King Cakes" you go to Gambinos in New Orleans. Richard for "real King cakes here in DFW" Big Easy or Central Market A good King Cake Recipe here They are not giant sweet rolls. Would I eat them daily, well probably not, but a great indulgence for this time of year.

Duck Feet Jelly Fish Live Shrimp in Sake Taro Cake in pigs blood Natto Birds Nest Soup Pig Snouts Squirrel ah yah woof woof

1/3 LB of "Hamburger Grind" I normally get this at Central Market or Whole foods both normally use a mix of meats including scrap cuts of Tenderloin. Normally 80/20 or 85/15 depending on the type of cooking. For Pan / Oven I prefer 85/15 for Grill or smoker 80/20. Best method is grilled over charcoal and apple wood Topping Fresh Shredded Sharp Cheddar Hand Sliced Dills Spanish Onion Olives ** Really great Mayo Splash of my home made bbq sauce Sides: Oven Fries Caesar Salad Drink: Well I shouldn't but Dublin Dr. Pepper or Diet Dr. Browns Black Cherry Soda

Etoufee is Creole in origin. Gumbo is West African in origin, all though the "Cajun" variety is somewhat different than the "true" meaning.

Etouffee = smothered. Gumbo is really more of a thickened soup. Personally I don't do okra in my gumbo, but I was taught by friends from the Lafayette area. My friends from New Orleans say "it ain't gumbo without okra"

Sirachi Cajun Power Tabasco Garlic Hot Sauce (Cajun power is better, but sometimes have to mix it up) Dave's Honorable Mention to just plain old Japanese Chili Oil

I normally do either a mushroom risotto finished off with truffle oil or a parmesean rissoto finished with balsamic reduction. Also risotto balls made of left overs, some meat and then fried are great making me hungry ...

Chef thank you for joining us here on egullet. I assume your assoication with Slow foods is a natural one with Northern Italy's standard of earth to mouth. On our last trip to Italy we went to Il Rigoletto in Reggiolo amoung others and found it good, but somewhat outside would I would expect for restraurants in Emilia-Romagna. How does your food compare to the foods you would expect to see in the region?