Jason Perlow

It will be interesting to see what Bruni does. If Bruni gives Per Se 3 stars -- which I think to be highly unlikely -- it will likely be written off by Keller's California fan group as an anti-California cuisine and chef bias. There aren't any reactions from the west coast media to Cuozzo's review yet, but I bet you dollars to doughnuts the less than perfect review is going to be (incorrectly) blamed on some percieved New Yorker and east coast hatred of California food values, success, etc.

and i was thinking that it was the most straight-forward no-nosense review to date. I haven't eaten yet at Per Se, but from everything I have read on this site and heard from others elsewhere, I would agree with your statement, Tommy.

What must be the ULTIMATE ice cream sandwich for crappy ice cream sandwich fans: http://www.fatboyicecream.com/ Unfortunately, its made in Utah of all places, and I dont think they have East Coast distribution. But you can get six dozen of anything they make for $99 shipped in dry ice.

Or Gosling's Black Seal Rum. You could call it the "Dark and Grapey"

Actually of all the chains, if I had to pick one to go out to lunch to with my co workers in the middle of office park chain food hell, Macaroni Grill would probably top my list. Their tagilatelle with meat ragu is pretty decent.

The important thing is the taste. If it tastes as good as LiveWire does, it should be a success.

I would also reccomend Penang on Route 10 in the shopping plaza with Kam Man Food. Its a very good Malaysian/Chinese restaurant, part of a small chain. There is also another place in Parsippany on route 46 called Hunan Noodle House (a few miles down the road from Noodle Chu), which is actually Taiwanese. Also really good.

BTW Mr. Chu in East Hanover and Noodle Chu in Parsippany is owned by the original partner in Bill and Harry -- Harry Chu. Harry isn't involved in Bill and Harry anymore, though. Mr. Chu is a very, very good fancy-style American Chinese place with mostly Taiwanese staff and cooks, whereas Noodle Chu is an authentic dim sum and Hong-Kong style restaurant. Both highly reccomended.

It looks like most of that stuff can be thrown into something like the top rack of a Miele, although I am not sure if a commercial dishwasher would kill some of that stuff or not. I would guess most of this stuff is going to get delicately hand washed in a sink with soap and water.

Oh man that looks good. Sue-On, I notice that the recipe doesnt contain any green vegetable matter like scallions or cilantro or anything like that. Is that just a personal preference thing or do those have no place in wontons?

BTW, SLAMMED is looking for someone to author an article about SYSCO turning over a new leaf (I.E., interest in sustainable argriculture, etc) with their recent CEO appointment. If you are interested in writing this piece, please email annie@slammedmagazine.com.

Jason Link says "For just $27, you'll get 9 issues of the best magazine on the planet!" I don't see the discount you mention. I know its says $27, but the link URL referrer code will tell them you are an eG member and it will be $20. EDIT: It looks like they must have fixed it a week or so ago.

Katie I took no offense -- I guess what I meant to say was that whatever Gluckstern is bringing in, is going to be a good value. As I understand it from conversations with Willie about the wineries he deals with, most of them are relatively unknown and have little or no exposure at all in the US -- in most cases he is dealing with really small wineries, who don't have the resources to get their wines in the US by themselves, for whatever reason -- be it poor exposure or just that their wines are so esoteric they aren't of interest to your average volume wine buyer. But Gluckstern is nutty, he's into these weird esoteric kinds of wines that use varietals most people have never heard of -- so he puts the wacky labels on them to make them more accessible. I know he sells to a lot of restaurants in NYC and I think he does have some representation on Long Island, and I think in Connecticut. Last time we spoke he was working on getting his stuff into various stores in NJ. He may even have a way to get them to PA.

I've sampled a number of Gluckstern's imports -- all of them great tasting and good values. I know for every single one of those wines, he's visited every single one of those wineries IN PERSON, and god knows, he spends an obscene amount of time in Italy and Germany and Austria, and many of the things he tastes just don't make the cut. You gotta understand something about Gluckstern -- he's a lunatic. Obsessive about finding good values in wine and totally into debunking the crap about the industry and is totally non pretentious. So if you have the opportunity to try any of his wine, you should.

Yeah, he's a wacky guy. I've been to his wine courses, they are excellent.

Willie Gluckstern's wines have the WACKIEST illustrations on them. However unlike Gallo, his wines are actually really good: http://www.wineavenger.com/import.asp (Click on the flags to see the wacky wine labels)

I like Arrak -- In particular, I like the "Razzouk" brand from Lebanon. Sambuca Romana from Italy is definitely sweet, of all the anisette flavored liquors I have tried. I haven't tried the Molinari. In terms of Ouzo I like the Metaxa brand.

Brooklyn is OK. I really am not a big fan of their sauce, its way too bland. Needs a really salty topping to compensate for it.

Unless of course, you LIKE the sludge, like I do.

Its questionable though if there are enough episodes of The French Chef that survive in good enough condition to be remastered, though. I mean there were so many, so there must be at least a few dozen, scattered about at all the PBS stations. But a lot of these stations didn't archive the videotapes or take good care of them. I wonder if Julia's estate has enough of them in relatively new condition. I would gather most of the ones that survive are from the mid to late 70s.

Actually, I don't find it upsetting at all, it is a frank and accurate asessment of who Julia Child was and what her limitations were. At the end of the day Julia Child was a human being -- with immense talents, but also flaws. A person of that importance to the history of cuisine and cooking in the US not only has to be spoken about on their merits, but what their failings were as well. After watching the PBS special last night I too also found it interesting that the foods of the far flung lands that she visited with her husband Paul never rubbed off on her, particularly the foods of China and India, of where she spent so much time. I also feel that her near laser-targeted focus almost exclusively on French cuisine and French cooking techniques -- even when applied to American chefs and American ingredients -- was rather limiting, and I never really understood her dislike of Italian cuisine either, which for the most part is more accessible to American cooking styles anyway. I think its highly appropriate and important that much of the key discussion on the Internet regarding Julia's passing is taking place on eGullet -- and that her death occurred not long after eGullet's 3rd birthday and our announcement to become a not for profit venture and a culinary educational entity rivalling the American Institute for Wine and Food, which was founded by Julia Child. In many ways, I see this as the passing of the torch. Julia Child enlightened the American culinary consciousness of the 1960's and 1970's and fueled the culinary revolution of the 1980's and 90's -- we hope and will endeavor that eGullet, assisted and guided by some of the brightest and best in the culinary profession will strive to do the same for the opening decades of the 21st century.

You must have gotten a bad batch, because there is no way I would classify China 46's XLB as watery, bad, or even lipton like.

That is one pornographic peach.

You don't have to, its avaliable on DVD or VHS for $19.95 plus $4.95 shipping and handling: 1 800 336 1917 Just ask for the American Masters episode on Julia Child. BTW, I really, really liked this show. Its one of the best things I have seen on PBS in a long while -- I'm going to make sure I see some of the other American Masters episodes as well.

I suppose this can be modified by adding ground pistachios, etc?