Jason Perlow

It is not only rude to hold a bowl in your hand, but you are not supposed to use chopsticks to eat rice either. They give you a long spoon for that. I always have to stop myself from using chopsticks with the rice when eating out Korean locally. Most places use metal rice bowls as well, which are used to keep the rice hot. Not being brought up to eat in this manner, I find the no chopsticks in the rice personally very awkward, because the Banchan type stuff IS eaten with chopsticks, and you can deposit it on your rice with chopsticks, but once it is ON the rice, its spoon territory. Its the transition between the two that is hard to get used to. Korean eating etiquette is totally different from any other Eastern culture. What's right in Chinese and Japanese and Thailand/Vietnam/Cambodia/Malaysia is totally wrong to do in Korean. And as mentioned earlier, Korean chopsticks are also very difficult to eat with, because many restaurants use metal ones, which are very slippery and narrow. To make matters even more complicated, if you are eating Korean Chinese food, do you eat Korean style, or Chinese style? Is it ok to pick up the bowl or eat rice with chopsticks? I dunno.

The only two of the dishes that you see here we ate were the Clams with Serrano (Which was the only one of the many dishes we tried we thought didn't really work, as the serrano got dried out and too salty and the clams a bit overcooked) and the Tuna Carpaccio, which was fantastic, and yes I do believe the white vegetable is jicama. We had a lot of other dishes (which we could not photograph in the dining room because the light was very low, hence the blurriness in the bar room shots, I had to heavily post process them) including some of the ones Steven tried, and after sampling close to half of the menu I would have to agree with Steven that the Bar Room is producing very solid three star, and even in some cases with certain dishes (that use luxury ingredients such as foie and black truffles) its well into four star territory. Frankly if the Bar Room cuisine is that strong, I'm scared to think of what can be achieved by Gabriel and his staff in the Main dining room.

Bar Room, filled with patrons Bar Room kitchen. Very narrow, much smaller than the main kitchen, but still producing excellent fare Charred Octopus with warm potato salad Poached Egg with serrano, cockles, garlic-almond sauce Tuna Carpaccio with curly cress and citrus-ginger vinaigrette Wild Salmon with horseradish crust, cabbage and riesling Dessert from Main Dining Room Petit Fours for Main Dining Room Main kitchen Main kitchen

I'm not really sure what the revulsion is here. It sounds like a dessert item to me. Didn't you people ever eat Nutella with Marshmallow fluff on toasted bread sandwiches as kids? The "bread" part is probably some type of pre-formed chocolate babka type loaf thing sliced up, or something similar to a pound cake. So really its more like smores on top of toasted cakey-bread.

It sounds like their take on a S'mores. I wouldnt necessarily buy it for lunch, but for a evening snack with some coffee? Sure.

This is overplayed by haute types. Yes, alcohol does have a temporary anaesthetic effect when it acts directly on the nerves in the mouth. But this effect also doesn't last very long... certainly not as long as the effect of, e.g., drinking a rich, chewy, tannin-filled glass of red wine. ← This is probably not the place to continue this discussion so apologies and brevity. I think the issue is not so much the effect on the actual buds but rather on the general acuity of the reviewer both in terms of parsing his experience of the food and his memory of what he's eaten. In my experience, there is a notable decrease in faculties when a serious meal is preceded by an, albeit gin, martini. ← Yeah, I was going to say that being a bit boozy during a meal doesn't help your memory at all. I can understand about having a few sips of wine to match with each course and to evaluate the wine service, but I know I certainly couldnt write an effective review myself if I was impaired in any way. At all the restaurants I review for the Times NJ section I pretty much stay totally sober. Going out to eat for pleasure is a different story.

Is it just me, or does ordering a Vodka martini just prior to a fine dining experience not conducive to good culinary judgement, from a journalistic perspective? Doesn't that dull the palate?

Nice NYT article this morning on eG Society member "Inventolux" and his "Bubblejet Sushi" http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=61058

Rachel and I had dinner with a friend of the site tonight at The Modern Bar Room. Here are a few shots, I'm a bit beat, more to come with comments tomorrow. Bar Room Dining Area Bar Room Lounge Various interesting moss plants, succulants and artichoke flowers on display Bar shot Another Bar shot Main Dining Room kitchen Arctic Char Tartare with daikon and trout caviar Some weird dude who walked into the kitchen with us, and the Bar Room Executive Chef

Madness!

I guess that is why they use the much tougher Dungeness crab in the cakes. ← Dungeness crab in a crabcake would be equally wasteful in my opinion, although I have heard of it being done in the Pac NW and in San Francisco where Dungeness is priced to go. On the East Coast, Dungeness is very expensive, and Maryland Blue is a lot cheaper. Typically you see dungeness meat in sauteed dishes in Asian restaurants if you see it used that way at all here.

Nah, I wouldnt make crab cakes. Alaskan King Crab shouldnt be chopped up and used like Maryland lump blue crab meat. A Sushi roll or a summer roll is probably the best use, deep or pan frying the meat again is going to make it greasy and tough. Another possiblilty would be to make lobster bisque, or a decent clam or corn chowder, and top the soup with chunks of king crab meat. Yet another possiblilty is to toss chunks of the meat in a light mayonaisse/dijon mixture with a bit of dill and serve it on toasted hot dog rolls, and perhaps some chopped up celery, a la New England lobster rolls. Or try it on a sandwich roll tossed up in this sauce, which is used for Florida Stone Crab Claws, a type of crab that is similar in taste and texture to Alaskan crab and is served chilled: http://foodgeeks.com/recipes/recipe.phtml?recipe_id=835

Vietnamese Summer Rolls. Or make California Rolls.

No, it was just funny though. Funny to me, at least!

It better well damn not be... they are supposed to be Glatt Kosher!

Don't know if you are near Arlington, but the Washington Post gave Bob & Edith's on Columbia Pike a Readers Choice award. Ever been? Washington Poist Article ← Bob and Ediths used to be a favorite of JHLurie and mine when we were undergrads at American University.

I've heard their breakfasts are good, but I've never had them there. Their Burgers are huge but the style is not to my liking.

Split Pea soup. Totally.

Ted Allen from Queer Eye is going to be one of the judges on tonight's episode.

On a lark, Rachel and I went to the Englewood diner around noontime, craving a traditional diner breakfast, and the place did not disappoint, although the place was packed solid and it took about a half an hour for us to get our food. The eggs were perfectly cooked, the bacon was thick, crispy and smoky, the sausage was juicy and rachel's banana pancakes were fluffy and tasty. Home fries were good but needed to be burned more (nobody really seems to be able to burn them to my satisfaction). Coffee was good fresh diner Joe, and it was being poured liberally. I realize its hard to get excited about the local diner, but given that we have so many LOUSY diners in the area (The Tenafly diner is absolutely HORRID) and people are lining up at the local IHOP in droves (we couldn't even get in there today) a diner that does a solid breakfast on a Sunday morning is a great thing to have. I'm looking forward to trying their club sandwiches and their burgers and other stuff. I really don't know what to say other than the fact that the place looks and smells like a retro diner SHOULD be. The Englewood Diner was apparently bought by a Dominican couple, Andres and Judi two years ago, and it looks like they've done a very good job of keeping the place up and getting customers in there. A packed diner is always a very good sign -- these guys bake all their own cakes and pies on premises -- I saw several coming out of the kitchen while I was eating. They also have a full ice cream/soda jerk type setup. The owner told me his kitchen is very small so he has no place to keep any inventory, and thus they are pretty much forced into making everything fresh from scratch and selling out everything they cook each day, and getting deliveries of their provisions on a daily basis.

I hate Merlot as well. Yet another mass produced plonk varietal that is subject to tremendous oak abuse. This is not to say that all Merlot wines are bad. I'm not gonna condemn the entire Bordeaux region, of course. But I'd say most of the Merlot produced on this planet is pretty gross.

New Photos: Sopes on the griddle Sopes closeup

Steven, don't you know? The Quarter Pounder's primary flavor elements come from Ketchup and Mustard, combining with the greasiness of the patty and the pickles and cheese. Its a simple, Old School flavor profile. Its just a bigger version of their standard cheeseburger, whereas the Big Mac is New School. Or old New School.

Portuguese Style "Picadinho" with Pullo Rice Pilaf -- Pork Loin Cubes, Clams and Shrimp in a Garlic/Paprika/Brandy/Vinegar saute with pearl onions, grape tomatoes, olives, piquillo peppers and Saffron basmati rice with dried fruits and nuts.

Some new photos from the weekend Lunch Buffet at Dragonel: Indian Chinese Style Vegetable Fried Rice Tausi Chicken Wings Szechuan Chicken Tandoori Chicken Chicken Korma Vegetable "Manchurians" Wall artwork