Jason Perlow

That's nothing - when i first read your post about "Ed" i initially, mistakenly thought somehow that Ed O'Neill (Al from "Married with Children") was gonna be playing Bourdain. What you said about coffee. ← Actually, Ed O'neill could probably play Bourdain quite well.

Yeah, you're right. I shouldn't read this stuff before having my coffee in the morning. The guy who played "Ed" as Bourdain is just too much of a stretch, even for FOX.

The guy who played "Ed" as Bourdain? Thats laughable. He's doesn't look dangerous enough. He'll always be that ulra-sensitve pussy in Ed to me. I don't think it will last 6 episodes. Network TV can't possibly make it raunchy enough, even on FOX. These adaptations make me sick. Isn't Kitchen Confidential funny enough without screwing around with it?

for those of you who missed the writeup: Ginger; Spice and Flat-Panel TVs

New dessert from Patisserie St. Michel: Chocolate Tarte For those of you who haven't yet been to this store, you really need to go, soon. Andre's business is very good, but in life, there are no guarantees.

Tonight, the inlaws were coming over after attending a local party at a friends house, so we decided to shop in the Arthur Avenue section of the Bronx for some stuff to serve as antipasto: Pizza bread from Madonia Bakery Tomato and Basil from the Produce section of the Arthur Ave Retail Market Marinated Artichokes from Mike's Deli Various Antipasti, clockwise from top left: (from Mike's Deli:) Stuffed Cherry Peppers, a spicy sausage spread, marinated mushrooms, assorted olives, pickled beets (I made those), provalone cheese (Teitel Bros), gorgonzola cheese (TB), aged provalone (MD), basket cheese (MD), some soft creamy cheese that I don't know the name of (MD), there's those artichokes again. Closeup of the spicy sausage spread, it was out for tasting at Mike's. It was so spicy, Jason was the only one who liked it! Fried buccatini (mozzarella balls), with some of my tomato sauce. The buccatini were wrapped in prociutto then breaded and fried. Reheated easily in the toaster oven. I bought Littleneck Clams at Randazzo's Seafood, made a filling with hot and sweet Italian sausage from Peter's Meat Market, bread crumbs from Addeo Bakery, and fresh oregano from the Produce Guy at the Arthur Ave Retail Market (and some dried oregano and olive oil from my pantry). I steamed the clams open, then removed half the shell. Topped with the precooked sausage mixture, it waited while we started in on the antipasti, then I broiled for two minutes and served immediately with lemon wedges. Captions/Commentary by Rachel Perlow

They were surprisingly good for imported vine-ripened tomatoes. Certainly way better than you could get from most parts of the US during the winter!

Tonight, the inlaws were coming over after attending a local party at a friends house, so we decided to shop in the Arthur Avenue section of the Bronx for some stuff to serve as antipasto: Pizza bread from Madonia Bakery Tomato and Basil from the Produce section of the Arthur Ave Retail Market Marinated Artichokes from Mike's Deli Various Antipasti, clockwise from top left: (from Mike's Deli:) Stuffed Cherry Peppers, a spicy sausage spread, marinated mushrooms, assorted olives, pickled beets (I made those), provalone cheese (Teitel Bros), gorgonzola cheese (TB), aged provalone (MD), basket cheese (MD), some soft creamy cheese that I don't know the name of (MD), there's those artichokes again. Closeup of the spicy sausage spread, it was out for tasting at Mike's. It was so spicy, Jason was the only one who liked it! Fried buccatini (mozzarella balls), with some of my tomato sauce. The buccatini were wrapped in prociutto then breaded and fried. Reheated easily in the toaster oven. I bought Littleneck Clams at Randazzo's Seafood, made a filling with hot and sweet Italian sausage from Peter's Meat Market, bread crumbs from Addeo Bakery, and fresh oregano from the Produce Guy at the Arthur Ave Retail Market (and some dried oregano and olive oil from my pantry). I steamed the clams open, then removed half the shell. Topped with the precooked sausage mixture, it waited while we started in on the antipasti, then I broiled for two minutes and served immediately with lemon wedges. Captions/Commentary by Rachel Perlow

Daruma in Englewood also has good Sukiyaki. Also I recall the the sukiyaki at Nikko in East Hanover being pretty good.

Yeah, but 3 years later, its still open, though. And the rents there have to be higher.

Well, remember that prior to China 46, Cecil owned the space in the strip mall across the street from Whole Foods when it was Beijing Duck House, which just so happens to be another Shanghainese restaurant now, John's Shanghai. So clearly that equation did not work for him, for whatever reason, although I think it was related to his relationship with his partners, as I recall from a conversation with him about it.

Sally Ling thrives because it is in a killer location -- that strip mall is one of the busiest in all of Fort Lee -- it is literally a minute off the GW bridge and is in the busiest business zone in the entire town. I have no doubt if China 46 was in the same spot or even in Silver Pond's spot on Main Street it would be doing GANGBUSTERS business.

Did you try Poulet d'Orleans or Citrus at Cupacoy?

For the uninitiated, what is the dish all about? I don't think I've ever had it.

Yeah, I didn't think the giant eggroll was particularly exceptional either. My favorite of the fried appetizers is clearly the Wontons with the cumin/citrus/tamarind sauce. The Panstickers themselves are quite good, but the accompanying dipping sauce is uninteresting, its your basic soy/vinegar sauce with scallions and sesame oil. I found that the Wonton dipping sauce actually was a better accompaniment for them (and actually, I felt it went great with the fried calamari as well), but its unlikely you'd end up ordering both appetizers at the same time, unless you were among a group of say 4-6 people.

Coke with Mint? Ick. I could go for Coke with Orange or Coke with Chocolate, though,

Wow, that's fascinating, Irwin.

Any condiment when used to excess is going to detract from what it is applied to, be it ketchup, mustard, relish, mayonnaise, whatever. I use mustard and duck sauce sparingly on Egg Rolls and Shrimp Toast or fried wontons or on any other fried appetizer -- in small amounts its a complementary flavor. By the way, there is good duck sauce and there is lousy duck sauce -- the better duck sauce is made predominantly of apricot preserves and has orange peel in it. The combination goes very well with fried foods, especially ones with pork in it. The hot English mustard -- which along with Worcestershire sauce was brought into Hong Kong by way of, guess who, the English - is particularly used with steamed dumplings, such as Shu Mai or Har Gow, in combination with a small amount of chili sauce, because those dishes are inherently bland and need a little bit of spicing. This is not something which has been the subject of Americanization, its what they really do in Hong Kong. But we're not talking about dunking dumplings in the stuff, we're talking about using a dot of it or small dab of it here and there. In addition to dim sum in Hong Kong, the spicy mustard is also used as a condiment for 'Cheong Fan' , a typical breakfast item, which is a plain roll of steamed rice flour pastry. I also quote this entry on Hong Kong dining at Travelocity.com: As to Silver Pond -- its definitely one of the better Dim Sum parlors in the entire Tri State area as far as I am concerned. I haven't been there in a while only because China 46 is such a huge bargain by comparison for a weekend brunch, but China 46 does not serve Hong Kong-style dim sum. I've been wanting to go back to Silver Pond for a while.

Moderator note: This was split off from the "Sally Ling" topic in New Jersey. Hank, one of our (as in Rachel and myself) most favorite things in the entire world are Egg Rolls with Duck Sauce and Mustard. I'm not going to argue for one minute that Egg Rolls are authentic regional Chinese items, they aren't. However, properly made -- and there are good ones just as well as there are bad ones -- I can enjoy one just as easily as I do a real Hong-Kong style spring roll -- with Worcestershire sauce. I think that Duck Sauce and Hot Chinese Mustard have their place. They work particularly well with deep fried appetizers, such as Shrimp Toast. The mustard, however is completely authentic, its served quite often at Hong Kong-style dim sum places along with chili sauce, as an accompaniment to steamed dumplings. Silver Pond in Fort Lee -- as hard core a Hong Kong-style restaurant as you can get -- does this all the time.

Finally, slice view: And yes, it tasted as good as it looks. There will definitely be more Freedom Tarts baked in this household soon.

Fully baked:

Today we decided to make a patriotic "Freedom Tart". Here it is just before going into the oven. It has caramelized onions (onion CONFIT for those of you Frenchy lovin' Communists), a cheap end-cut of smoked chopped up Virginia ham (thats them Amurikun kind of ham, not that Jambon crap from France), some overcooked leftover Broccoli -- the favorite vegetable of our current president's dad, and domestic Cheddar and Swiss cheeses from the local supermarket. And to add insult to injury, we used good-old-Amurikun Phyllo dough (brushed with an assload of butter) instead of that damn French pastry crust stuff. "fully baked" shot to follow.

Yeah, I was not particularly impressed with the place. For Americanized fancy chinese, I'd much rather go to a place like Mr. Chu or Bill and Harry in the East Hanover/RT10 area. Actually, I'd kill for a place like Mr. Chu or Bill and Harry around here. Peking Duck House in Closter and Kuma in Englewood (they also have a Paramus location) also does a decent job with that kind of food, and I liked the two restaurants the one or two times we ate there, but for some reason we never went back.

The scallion bread is new, I had it with Fat Guy on my last brunch visit as well. Its very good. Its completely separate from the Scallion Pancakes -- and they have 2 versions of scallion pancakes, one with egg and one without. The one with egg is definitely the better one.

When I was in New Orleans I picked up a couple of bottles of George Dickel Tennesee Whiskey -- this stuff is way better than Jack Daniels and much smaller production. I personally like to drink it neat, but its a great mixer as well and makes a hell of a Mint Julep.