tetsujustin

How does a New Yorker know the Spec's store better than us. Dang. Too bad they have absolutely no selection of NY or Finger Lakes wines though, except for Bully Hill. I love Dr. Frank wines.

That's what I was referring to, Dan. And now that I know that they use wood, maybe I'll enjoy it more. All I'm saying is that sometimes it's probably good to just sit down and not have to think and be meticulous in discriminating your food. If it's good, it's good. Knowing more about your food probably spawns from the fact that you do enjoy it so much, however. But I guess that's probably like arguing about whether the chicken or the egg came first. And I guess I'd better warn my girlfriend, because I'll never really understand women.

My guess is that you won't like Rudy's, the pit isn't exactly the most authentic and I'm almost certain they don't use wood. The sau(s)e while good, probably won't "match your standards." Personally, however, I don't see what there isn't to like about some good company, a double dr. pepper, a half pound of turkey and brisket, the sysco-brand banana puddin that they have, and a beer afterwards. When I go to Austin, I go to Rudy's. I sit outside, enjoy the weather (hopefully), enjoy the food. And do you really have to know about a subject in order to eat it and enjoy it? I'd hate to see your mind explode if you ever go eat at a place like Alinea or WD-50.

from what I've taken in, it's like if Shawn McClain and Tom Colicchio got together and had a restaurant baby. It's in the style of "extreme a la carte" a la Craft but with the McClain touch. With that, you'll probably see a lot of braising, Asian spices, and probably Italian touches.

when I was in chicago a couple years back there was a "restaurant week" of sorts. I forgot what it was called but it was sponsored by pellingrino. A few of the names that I remember off the list of restaurants that participated were tompolabampo, Le Lan, Coco Pazzo, and Cafe Spiaggia. I don't remember exactly when it was, but it was in either July or August. They offered prie fixe menus and you got a bottle of pellengrino free with your meal. I suppose this doesn't help much, but I heard about it through chicago.citysearch.com. I'm not sure if that was a one time thing or a yearly thing. Anyway, I hope this helps at least a little

On the subject of the actual battle, I must say I wasn't greatly impressed with either of the chef's dishes, although I believe Chef Fraser really did explain himself well on why he put out dishes that were all on the heavy side. I would have liked to see him attempt something more on the side of an appetizer though as it seemed to me as if they were all entrees. I would've eaten that smoked/roasted/crisped piece of butt in a second though. Another indication to me that ICA isn't rigged (after much debating in my head after Cat Cora beat Alex Lee) Cora is now at the .500 mark at 2 and 2. Although people would have probably cried murder if Chef Fraser lost. Did anyone else really like the judges too? I think they really didn't let back and actually spoke what they thought. I was highly satisfied with the comment that the first guy gave on Chef Cora's dish, as it looked to me that it wouldn't have been a bad dish, but it probably wasn't out of this world. More of these guys. Less of the niceness. Dangit, Daniel, now i'm gonna have to try toffee covered bacon.

Not to burst your bubble or anything, but I'm not sure how locally owned Andre's is. We have two Andre's Pastry Shop and Cafes here in Houston. I dunno if it's just some sort've coincidence that there's the same logo for the name and the chef lookin guy, but my mother frequents one of them down here. I will say though, that their pastries are pretty good. But yeah, I guess this subject is a little off topic.

Yeah, as much as I disliked the judges this time around, I'm just glad that lady from KB enterprises wasn't there... or the lady that wrote untangling my chopsticks. They drive me up the wall. As I am an avid watcher of the original Iron Chef, I remember times where the chefs would cook to cater to the judges and know ahead of time whether or not they liked spicy foods and such. Besides, chefs aren't cooking for foodies and people who know and love all types of food every single day, so maybe they're just trying to get an accurate representation of the population. Who knows. I was a bit surprised that Chef Burke tried to do a rendition of his famous angry lobster, though I guess he didn't want to bring those nail rounds for nothing. It just seems like his original angry lobster dish with lamb stuck in it. That may have been what killed it for him. I was also surpised he didn't do his falafel and lamb that I had when I ate at davidburke&donatella. It was pretty damn good. I think it would have been a suitable replacement for the angry lobster dish. Also, was it just me or did Flay do a breakfast dish (again) then four entrees? And yeah, the lady in the middle was the editor of f&w. I don't know if I'm that excited to watch Cora v. Fraser in a pork battle. They need more vegetables on the show.

Having only eaten at his place once, I can't give you so much of an in depth of what Chef Bull is all about, though I can say the flavors of his dishes are always very balanced. He mixes in Texan produce and cuisine very well with French techniques. From what I'd eaten, he likes to use slight touches of Asian flair in his dishes. He stopped by to my table to say hi, and from what I garnered, he's very professional and humble. The food at driskill isn't what I'd call cutting edge but it is very well prepared and well thought out. If I had to compare him to a New York chef, I'd probably compare his food to Dante Boccuzzi (or Charlie Palmer, whoever you want to attribute the food to) but with much better plating and more of a comfortable feel to his food. hope it helps and you're one lucky dog for getting this gig. Enjoy yourself, do eG proud.

Chef, reading that you have aspirations of opening other restaurants in places such as Shanghai and San Francisco, how do you envision yourself being a part of these other restaurants? I know that you are known as being very hands on in the kitchen, taking part in almost everything from hazing the externs, to breaking down the kitchen, to cooking, to brainstorming. How do you envision yourself being a part of the other restaurants if you cannot be as involved in it as you are Alinea at this time? Would you be afraid that others could execute your visions as well as you could yourself? Also, as recently reported, sadly, Trio is closing. Board moderator ronnie suburban suggested the idea of a 60 course dinner with the other chefs to celebrate the times. You think you'd be up for it?

I just got a Dish newsflash that Trio is closing its doors in February. A sudden gloominess washes over me.

it is not finished ,but : laidbackmanor.net

Sous chefs Seth Gardner and Shaun Duffy prepping for a pre-opening party Chef Seth and myself on the garde manger side of the line Chef Shaun (and our circulator in the background) Francisco, Chef Shaun, Jack, and myself on the first soft opening night. The left banquettes plus the bar seating in the back of the picture in the dining room our soft opening dessert-- donuts with spiced honey, parsnip-coconut ice cream, and almond milk Executive Chef/Owner Randy Rucker at work The hot line with Chefs Shaun and Seth A lineup of entrees (left to right): cinnamon laced venison, confit of shallot, root vegetable coulis, Dr. Pepper braised "Ribs", Texas toast, smoked potato salad, and Wild Atlantic Salmon, white bean gnocchi, tomato confit, and garlic soup More pictures to come whenever I can get them uploaded.

If you go down like 3/4ths of the page it'll give you the review, it's about when the Super Bowl was in Houston.

And as people say, "you can't manage it unless you've done it" I don't care how mindless the job is.

Morimoto also used that technique in Iron Chef on his "Japanese grill" in the tag team match where he and Flay teamed up, cooking langostines on top of burning pine branches, if I remember correctly. I guess it doesn't quite look as cool as when Chefg does it, but I suppose it should do the trick.

Though I understand where you are coming from, I must also also point out that even though you don't want to be a part of the actual restaurant in the front or back of the house staff, it is essential that you understand the inner workings of a restaurant to really understand some of the reasonings behind cost evaluation and control, real estate financing, working with and working out concepts and ideas and so on and so forth. So even if you're not looking to wait tables or cook, I do suggest you still do some of it just to know the "hows" and "whys" of what needs to be done with a concept. Just to point out, Danny Meyer was a maitre 'd before he ever opened up a place, Drew Nieporent worked in a management position at Tavern on the Green before he even thought about opening up his own doors. I'm not sure if Jeffery Chowdorow ever worked in a restaurant before opening up the first China Grill, but he may be a very special case. Though it's not unheard of for people to to jump into the restaurant industry cold turkey, I really suggest working at a few places first before inquiring about corporate jobs for a multi-unit company.

If you click on the either three of the "five course" "ten course" or "GTM" buttons under the cuisine heading over and over again, it rotates the pictures. Impressive photography, btw. And noambenami, speaking as a user, I had no problem navigating the site and I found it pretty much representitive of what I exerienced at Moto. Almost futuristic in presentation. Then again, I am no expert. I don't think many people who go to restaurant websites are though.

Doc, Knowing you're from that that great big Apple state up North, I was wondering how you would compare your finest moments at Alinea with your finest moments at Wylie Dufresne's WD-50. (I've seen your picture with him.) I do realize that the approach that Chef Achatz and Chef Dufresne take are two opposite routes when it comes to presentation, flavor, and build of a dish, but the "avant-garde" binding is hard to ignore, especially with two chefs of this magnitude. I've been to Trio when it was under Chefg and WD-50 about a year ago, and I will say that I enjoyed my time at Trio more just because there were less hit-miss dishes for me. The flavors at Trio both had a comforting feel to it, like I knew ahead of time that it should work, yet it was still "out there" enough to keep me guessing and oohing and ahhing. It seems the same has carried over to Alinea. Whereas my time at WD I found the flavors to be less so and more adventurous in what they put together. I personally enjoyed both of my experiences, but with you having eaten at so many fine establishments, I was wondering your take on it.

I'm thinking you're just expecting too much of a review. After all, reviews are largely for the public that know next to nothing about food... only that it goes in your mouth. Most people don't know and probably don't care anything about a rub, have no idea what a smoke ring is, and will go to a place because the picture in the paper looks good (hence they would rather have a pretty picture than an informative one) Most of what the major food sections in the US give are a description of the place and atmosphere, a gauge of if the service is decent, a slight overview of the menu, and recommendations of what's good and what's not so good. Some do it in more flowery talk than other (Frank Bruni) some are quite straight forward (Bill Daley), but really, that is the standard of much of what's published. Actually, the person I think that goes most in depth with his reviews is Robb Walsh in Houston (which why I like reading his reviews) If you want something more in depth, I probably wouldn't be browsing food sections of major papers. There's plenty of bbq magazines, food-related magazines, and food websites such as this one and chowhound for you having to be frustrated at what the statesman publishes. If it doesn't help, then don't read it. Just know that it probably brings a lot of the general public to try out new places, promote the good restaurants in Austin and attract new customers to a lot of previously unknown places. If it does that, then it does its job. Back to the BBQ, I like eating Rudy's in Austin just because the Turkey's good and I have a thing for their most-likey-sysco-from-a-powdered-form banana pudding with not-so-fresh out of the box vanilla cookies. Whoever said that food professionals only like the good stuff must be out of their mind.

If the way Chef McClain and the Drohomyrecky's (are they involved in this?) opened Green Zebra is any indication of how well they plan and open a restaurant, then it really should not be any problem. I know that the menu is probably some branches off of what Chef McClain has previously done before and most of the items are probably tried and true until they have time to experiment more with other flavor combinations. At Zebra, they transplated a few of their best front and back of the house talent and brought in a few others (that was me) to help out. From all the reports that I've heard from reviewers, the service seems not to have that many kinks to work out and the menu I've heard to be pretty nice. If you're afraid of "new restaurant syndome" then yeah I'd give it another month or two, but I really haven't heard anything bad yet. I myself would be there in a heartbeat. Too bad it's a few states away. haha.

download flash7

Here's the link to the album, I'm not sure what's wrong with imagegullet, I can't get the code for each link for some reason just by clicking on the picture so I suggest clicking on the slideshow option to be able to see everything in its full size. Laidback Manor in construction

I whole-heartedly disagree with this point for the plain fact that everyone has very different tastes and views of food. In a college town like Austin, I'm sure you know that only a small percentage of non-suburbia Austin has the budget or taste to understand the food at Driskill, Aquarelle, Vespaio. Most of the kids would murder at the sight of the prices and portions. You being an obvious antithesis. Every review has at least some sort of merit to it, but always take it with a grain of salt because again, it is from a singular point of view. You may believe that places like Carrabas and such aren't worth the time of day, but note that these restaurants are successful enough to turn themselves into a chain whether its because of its food or not (for Carrabas my thought is that it's a lot more because Mr. Carraba than the food/restaurant itself) I have high doubts that there is a way to define "well-chosen" because it means different things to different people. Would I dine at most of these places? No, probably not. I love independent restaurants because they give me a different feel. I can feel the heart of the restaurant in both its food and staff. I can learn about a personality of an owner or chef by eating at their restaurant... without meeting them. But I do not disregard these other restaurants listed because they do not They are what they are, and whether or not you can get a duplicated meal at a different location, I believe the point was to let people know about their opinions of the meal... valid or not. Sure I'd like to get an opinion on Wink or Driskill or Uchi or Jeffery's if I'm looking to spend more than I usually spend, but maybe sometimes I'd like an opinion on a restaurant that just so I know it'll fit what I'm craving for. Sometimes... you just want some bad chinese food, or a grasy, Americanized version of Italian. It's all how you look at it. It's like asking Frank Bruni what the point is in review places like Ninja or Lure or Spigolo when he needs to be re-reviewing older, celebrated restaurants or the newer star-worthy restaurants. I believe it's there just for the sake of education and to please a certain customer index. Just remember, without mediocre restaurants, there'll never be excellent ones. As for the reviews itself, I personally wouldn't use it but I know a whole lot of people that would. I agree also that in some of these reviews they need to learn to understand the ethnic cuisine more before rampaging on it... but again, different people. different point of view. If the world all had the same taste, then it would be a boring place for us cooks.... plus there would be a lot less foie for me to eat.

All that means is that you need to learn to stretch your mouth open and eat it all in one bite like a real Texan. *grunt* Now I've got to figure out if it's worth the 45 minute drive to go get a burger. ... maybe when gas goes down a little.