Chris Amirault

I've been fiddling with these two, using a ginger syrup that's 1:1 simple with plenty of ginger thrown in for a hot steep. If I'm feeling motivated, I'll grate a little fresh for extra bite. Gingered Gentleman 2 oz bourbon 3/4 oz ginger syrup 1 oz lime handful of muddled mint Stir with ice in highball glass and top with Reed's ginger beer and a mint sprig. Salty Dog Variation 2 oz anejo tequila 3/4 oz lime 3/4 oz ginger syrup 1 t salt Stir with ice in highball glass and top with Half n Half or other grapefruit soda. (Adjust for sweetness if it's a sugary pop.)

Have they formally opened now?

Say more about the seafood platters.

Went by the new Big Fish tiki bar today to check out the cocktail menu. Surely Elkay would have some interesting tiki drinks out there, right? There is no cocktail menu at the Big Fish tiki bar.

Any updates? Must haves? Must avoids?

I'm glad my parents let me eat that cereal. It helped me develop a very strong and pleasurable relationship to food, probably even moreso than far less frequent lobster boils and annual field strawberry shortcakes did.

Thanks. It took about two hours, start to finish, which included all of the other dishes and prepping the grill. I should note that we had about three cups of extra sauce left over to boot, which we're eating with rice and pickles as a quick lunch this week. Yeah, that's what I was planning to do per James's recommendations, but I couldn't find macadamia nuts in a small enough portion size. I'll keep snooping around for candlenuts at other stores -- I have my fingers crossed for one in particular.

Aside from the classics (a Martini with Regan's is a revelation) try The Bairn: 2 oz scotch 1/2 oz Cointreau 2 dashes orange bitters Stir, strain, orange twist over the glass.

Dinner yesterday included stir-fried water spinach with garlic and chiles: The fantastic Javanese cucumber and carrot pickles: And the grilled coconut chicken with lemon basil (Ayam Panggang Sulawesi). Since this was the first time I'd braised before grilling I thought I'd document it. Three substitutions: a few peanuts instead of candenuts (can't find 'em here), Thai basil for lemon basil (required a bit more lime juice later), and ground dried turmeric for the fresh. Here's the set-up for the flavoring paste prior to hitting the pan: I can never get those damned lemon grass knots to look purty. I sautéed the paste for a while then tossed in the basil, lime leaves, and lemon grass: Switched to a bigger pot, added the coconut milk, simmered for a while, adjusted the seasoning (more salt and I added some roasted red chile pepper), and then added the chicken thighs: The chicken thighs just at done: One of the great things about about chicken thighs is that they take a tight shape as they braise, and the skin wraps right around them -- perfect for grilling. Here they are, a bit blurry, after the grilling and with some extra reduced sauce on them: We squirted a bit of extra lime and sprinkled a bit of extra salt over each thigh, and then enjoyed them with the pickles, greens, and new crop jasmine rice. The braise-then-grill method is pretty ingenious, particularly with such a rich braising liquid. The thighs soak up a ton of flavor and then the smoky char plays off of that really well. I have no clue about authenticity and realize the lemon basil would have helped, but the dish seemed to benefit from a bit of brightening (the lime), which made me wonder how it'd work with some fresh galangal.

Forgive me if this has been addressed above. While at one of my local liquor haunts (IM Gann on Warwick Ave in Cranston), Chris was kind enough to talk me through a few more details of these laws. One detail seemed stunning to me: each item is only available from exactly one distributor in RI. So, one place distributes Anheuser-Busch, which means that they distribute Bud to every store in the state. Is this true elsewhere?

My wife and I had an achievement to celebrate last night, and after a frustrating attempt to dine at Loie Fuller on Westminster (we left after wrestling unsuccessfully with a bad menu and sheer lack of understanding from FOH staff about basics), we wound up downtown at Local 121, still in soft-opening at 121 Washington Street. The central dining space is designed with quasi-French postmodern touches (oversized lights, white-leather-framed mirrors with massive rivets), which, to our surprise, we both liked. The bar is fantastic: lots of dark wood, fantastic multi-colored stained glass, and a friendly bartender, Richard, who's promised me that he'll be tracking down Fee's and Regan's orange bitters, Maraschino, and Peychaud's bitters. The menu design focuses on local and sustainable, as the name suggests, and they seem pretty insistent about it. FOH manager Bryan talked with us quite a bit about refusing to serve "NJ tomatoes," and we have a friend of the family who is sourcing in NH and VT for meat and cheese possibilities. I think the menu itself looks outstanding: lots of small plates, good wines by the glass, and both safes and quirks that should please the Trinity gang and foodies both. We started with some wonderful housemade pickles and vegetable chips (sort of fresh Terra Chips, with a few soggy beet slices but overall very strong). The highlight for us was the dandelion salad with a great smoked bluefish. It's the sort of salad that most places would bury with a cloying dressing to play down the bitterness; here the kitchen let the rich bluefish play off the dandelions -- and added some radishes as a mark of confidence. No chicken caesar here. For mains my wife had the burger and fries (burger had pretty good flavor but there wasn't enough fat in the ground beef for me; the fries were great), and I had the special: fresh pasta "ravioli" in broth with a poached egg, some green onions, goat cheese, and slices of pickled beef tongue. It needed more salt and I had to ask for pepper, but as much as I liked the dish, I can't believe the item is being served on a menu in this town. This is as exciting an opening as we've had around here in a long time, and it was relatively cheap: with three glasses of wine adding $22 to the tab, our meal totaled $64 before tip. I'm all for local, artisanal, sustainable, but it's gotta work on the plate. Before it's even officially open, Local 121 seems to be getting it.

Found DeGroff's by making a few phone calls to eGulleteer-approved liquor stores. Thanks, all! While digging around at yard sales yesterday I found Trader Vic's Bartender's Guide for a quarter. It's the 1972 revision of the 1947 original, and it's a hoot. I'm wondering if anyone out there has a bead on some interesting concoctions from there.

Found a bottle of Cherry Heering the other day and grabbed it. First thing I made: Tarleton's Resurrection from The Hersch: 1 1/2 oz gin (Plymouth) 3/4 oz Cherry Heering 3/4 oz lemon 2 dashes Maraschino 2 dashes orange bitters (Fee's and Regan's) A tart, refreshing start to the evening, we both thought. Got me wondering about other possibilities. Yeah, I know, Blood & Sand. What else?

What a great topic idea, maher! I've been wondering the same thing myself. I have a basement that stays moist and cold most of the year but is extremely variable at different times. I tried making a curing chamber last year (click here) using this set-up: Problems included the obvious: lack of much control of humidity or temperature; the inability to give the chamber a really thorough cleaning; extremely clunky top-down access. I'm at the point now where I think a more enclosed chamber is in order, and I've been thinking about what it would take to convert an old fridge or wine cooler/cellar. There are a few chefs here in town who've rigged their own set-ups, and I'm hoping to check those out for tips.

Has anyone been to Loui Fuller on Westminster? I keep driving by and it looks interesting.

Go to Flo's Clam Shack and get fried clams.

I've already made both the chicken and beef satays, and I have five pounds of chicken thighs in the fridge for something this weekend. (If you want a simple trick for satay-skewering, click here.) I agree with Oseland's comment that the kecap manis and lime sauces are better for bringing out the flavor of the satays than gloppy peanut sauces that hide it. I've also made the lemongrass-scented coconut rice a few times, and we really like it. The nasi goreng (Javanese fried rice) is also great, too. Not sure what's next, but: yep, I'm in. ETA: Actually, I think I do know what's next: the grilled coconut chicken with lemon basil. I'm very interested in this simmer, marinade, grill method, which I've never seen anywhere else before. I've been finding good water spinach around here the last few weeks, so I'll probably also follow the menu advice and make the pickles and greens as sides.

I certainly don't want to suggest I'm some ribs expert, but 2. doesn't make sense to me, given what I've learned about smoking. In order to create the pellicle (the dried surface of meat that soaks up the smoke best) you wouldn't want to wrap them overnight but rather let them air out in the fridge. Or am I missing something?

Soaking sweet/sticky rice for a few hours before steaming is common.

Do you have construction diagrams so that we can see how the photos match up with the layout?

Haven't been to Lupita -- but I hear that your trip to La Arepa was swell, si?

Thanks for the feedback, Meathead. I've only ever smoked with an old Weber, which I never mastered, and I really like the Bradley a lot. No puck sticking. I went with a bacon approach, with which I'm more familiar. Though it's hard to control the Bradley's temperature with much precision, I started the first few hours around 100-150F until the meat got up to 140F, then I went to the 200F with the smoker turned off (no effect, of course) until they were where I wanted 'em. It's a good point -- and I can't really say that the spritzing added too much.

A quick update on the weekend ribs, which turned out very well. I'm not sure how long they were in the Bradley, but it was certainly over 7 hours. The first few were at a pretty low temp, and once the ribs had reached 140F I bumped up the heat to 200F. All the while I was spritzing with a 1:1 cider vinegar:apple juice blend. When they were on that toothy/falling-off-the-bone point, I pulled them out. I then fired up my Weber with hardwood charcoal to very, very hot and seared them very briefly (maybe two minutes per side). I didn't sauce them on the grill -- I think that's heresy -- but did serve them with =Mark's SC BBQ sauce. My one complaint was that the ribs were lacking a bit of the fat I'd have preferred. Everyone else, however, loved that they weren't as fatty. Go figure.

Forgive my ignorance, but what is "the beverage journal"? Is there a listing for each state?

It looks like it's a marketing tool, not the online version of the cookbook, yes?