Jason Perlow

Not exactly New York but fairly easy to get to from Manhattan -- Mitsuwa Shopping Center in Edgewater, NJ (literally across the water from the west side) has a food court with a noodle shop that serves various types of ramen, and they are actually reasonably priced and taste pretty good. The kitchen is only open until 7PM, however. Mitsuwa is also a good place to get your fix on all kinds of Japanese groceries and staple items, as well as snacks like Pocky. 595 River Road, Edgewater, NJ 07020 (201)941-9113 9:00AM - 8:00PM

Think you mean Canh Chua Ca. Wonderful sweet/sour fish soup: okra, beansprouts and pineapple heavy with stacks of tamarind pods. Absolutely bindin' broth. pieman noodlepie Yup, thats the one.

Which reminds me, Pritchard's web site appears to be down (I cant find it on google) and I cant seem to find anyone who distributes it on the web. I've been meaning to try it for a while.

Isn't Hu Tieu the preferred noodle soup in Saigon, not Pho? I really like Hu Tieu. Its a totally underrated Vietnamese soup. I realize that the word "Hu Tieu" is really just the generic name for any noodle but I am referring to the traditional chicken/pork broth soup of southern Vietnam. There's another really interesting noodle soup that I was introduced to by a local Vietnamese chef in NJ that she calls "Bouillabase" which has rice noodles in it and is a sweet and sour/spicy broth with seafood and okra in it. I don't know what its called in Vietnamese. And then of course you got Bun Bo Hue, from the Hue province of Central Vietnam and is atypically very spicy compared to most Vietnamese food. Which when I get sick during the winter, is guaranteed to restore my respitory system in a matter of minutes due to how spicy that stuff is.

I've made a variation on the Flaming Orange Gully but with a mixture of grapefruit and blood orange juice instead of straight regular orange juice.

I wonder what this stuff costs per bottle. Even if it was half what the Fentinmans costs, I'd get it. BTW, I also have become quite fond of Trader Joe's "Pompelmo" soda from its "Trader Giotti" Italian Soda line. Its basically an exact clone of San Pellegrino Pompelmo, which is only imported in very limited quantities in 1.5L bottles in specialty Italian grocery and gourmet stores. This stuff tastes exactly the same and is cheaper and comes in 12oz cans -- its got a very strong, refreshing Grapefruit taste. The Pellegrino one is made from Israeli grapefruit -- this one is also made in Italy but I am not sure what kinds of grapefruits it uses -- but it does taste nearly the same.

Decide for yourself. Its not the pants that gives me pause, its the huge rubber gloves that implies deviancy and perversion. What's deviancy and perversion got to do with being gay? Dunno. You're the one that made that association, not me.

Where is Pepsi Edge avaliable? Where do you live?

Oh my God, what are we going to do? No more ultimate cheesesteaks? no more Chippers? No more Atomic Dogs? No more pulled pork and ribs? We'll really miss the place, David. Best of luck with the new operation.

Decide for yourself. Its not the pants that gives me pause, its the huge rubber gloves that implies deviancy and perversion.

Damn, I may have to leave then. But, maybe I can qualify with this information: my dad was born in Georgia, I was born and raised in Virginia. Redneck.

We even take PASTRY CHEFS. What else needs to be said?

How about white, male, and American? No, we don't like them. Not ethnic enough. Although if you are a redneck, you may qualify for membership -- please address Mayhaw Man and Varmint with your membership application.

We're here, we're queer, get used to it.

Ed Mitchell. The Man. The Legend. Nice closeup of baby back ribs from Memphis Championship BBQ Salt Lick Brisket extreme closeup Salt Lick Texas Sausage closeup -- by far, this was my favorite thing at Salt Lick, and one of the best things of the show. A closeup of the Salt Lick smoker, with briskets ready to go. Salt Lick Brisket, spread eagle. Still Life. Salt Lick Brisket being sliced up. Another closeup of Salt Lick brisket -- flat cut. Another happy customer served. Extreme closeup of Ed Mitchell's cracklin'. Brisket, cut from the flat, and some burnt ends from KC Baron BBQ. I admit, now that I have tried their burnt ends and brisket cut from the flat, I'm a happy customer. Burnt end extreme closeup. Smoky goodness. Pulled Pork Shoulder Sandwich from Big Bob Gibson. Big Bob Gibson Baked Beans. A collection of Burnt Ends from KC Baron. Paul Kirk of KC Baron slicing up some brisket flat. Zoom in of Paul Kirk slicing up some brisket flat. Zoom in of Paul Kirk slicing up some brisket deckle. Pile o' ribs at Blue Smoke. Pitmaster Chris Lilly of Bib Bob Gibson. Ever wanted the see whats in a bottle of Ed Mitchell's HOT BBQ sauce? Lots of red chile pepper flakes. Oh Yeah. Balducci's Lemonade -- one of the big surprise products of the show. This carbonated lemonade imported from France went great with the Q.

Le Cirque is Moving

I really liked this pizza, for whatever wacky genre it is. It certainly is not your typical type Sicilian pie -- a think layer of sauce (very zingy, great flavor) is on top of the cheese, on top of which a lot of finely grated romano/parmesan is shaked and then toppings. The crust is nicely seasoned and has a definite and pleasant olive oil flavor similar to a foccacia - the texture of which is somewhat spongier than your average Sicilian crust or a foccacia. Its hard to compare L&B square pies to anything out there, so there is no basis for reference. But it is tasty and enjoyable, and we sure scarfed those 24 slices down between 8 people. If you get a pizza with a topping, go with the sausage. As Rachel says, the shrooms are pointless and extra cheese would make it a gloppy mess. The slices need no enhancement (I.E. don't bother shaking any more parmesan on it, it has a ton already) although a shake of hot pepper was a nice tweak. Other factoid: Spumoni Gardens has a decent sized parking lot, so if you go by car, it won't be a hassle.

A happy fool I will be, thanks.

I dunno about the Rub NYC (K.C. Baron) brisket. I mean, its juicy, but I found it to be really, really fatty stuff. I was advised that their BBQ sauce would cut down on its fattiness -- which it does -- but I found it to be too sweet. Interestingly enough, the BBQ Sauce they brought was the one they formulated for the NY market and the new restaurant -- they didn't bring their existing sauce. If I can, I'm going to see if they can get me some of the leaner cut brisket tomorrow. I know this goes in total contrast to what brisket is about, and I will probably get laughed at for this, but there has to be a way to have juicy and not really fatty. Sort of like the way you can have a juicy cut of pastrami at Katz's, but have huge peices of fat laced in it. Actually, my initial reaction to the brisket unsauced was "hmm.. kinda like a really fatty pastrami"

Here are some initial photos of L&B Spumoni Gardens. We ended up sitting under a red awning in the outdoor Spumoni Garden, which suffice to say was probably not a good idea from the standpoint of food photography -- so I am hoping Sam's photos of the actual pizza come out OK. Spumoni, small and large sizes. We universally decided that it was "Italian" flavored. Really good. Interior of Dining Room. Nice Cherubs. Heavily color-corrected shot of a pizza slice.

I decided to take the "Close Up" approach to BBQ photography, as Ellen has already done a great job showing you the flavor and feel of the show: On stage entertainment KC Cut Ribs, from Blue Smoke. All I can say is these ribs kicked some serious ass. Whole Hog Chopped/Pulled Pork, from Ed Mitchell. Note the little bits of cracklins' mixed in with the mix of shoulder and other pig parts. A closeup of of a plated portion of Whole Hog One of K.C. Baron's big smokers. Beef Brisket from K. C. Baron of Barbeque's R.U.B. BBQ This little guy looked really hungry. Baby Backs and BBQ Beans from Memphis Championship Barbecue (Mike Mills). These ribs were really well seasoned and surprisingly spicy -- the beans are also a big hit too, using several different types of beans, with nice and juicy bits of pork in it, in a vinegary and tomatoey bbq sauce base -- very zingy.

Jon, have you tried Diet Rite?

So, we bought a 6-pack of C2 in cans today at Target for $2.99. I'm just finishing my first can of this now. The initial flavor on the palate is like Coke Classic, but it has a finish of Diet Coke. Actually, it has a slight additional lingering metallic aftertaste on top of the Diet Coke finish that is somewhat bitter and rather unpleasant. Like the flavor of sucking on a copper penny. Drinking it lukewarm exacerbates this metallic flavor -- on ice its not nearly as noticeable, but still not great. Rachel says "It tastes like Diet Coke, maybe 10 percent better". Ugh. I don't think I like it. I guess as soon as the Pepsi Edge is avalaible, I will try that.

I believe Pritchard's Rum (US) uses pot stills.

i think it may be more interesting/revealing to look at the patterns of immigration in los angeles' san gabriel valley--the home of, as far as i know, the largest population of expatriate chinese outside the u.s, and definitely the most varied and best chinese restaurants. it may be hard for new yorkers to accept this but new york is not ground zero for chinese food in the u.s anymore. Right, we all know Jersey is.