Jason Perlow

Okay, I have to nit about something. I love RM Champagnes, too. I would assume that you like them because they are more interesting and have a greater variety of character than many of the NM (Negotiant Manipulant) wines. But that doesn't de facto make them better food wines than the 1990 Dom that started this whole discussion (or better food wines than Bollinger, Krug, etc.). A lot of them CAN be better because a lot of these wines aren't oaked and are made in very small batches. New oak barrels and new oak chips used for seasoning in some of the NM's are expensive, which a lot of these small houses can't afford. They also aren't made with the American palate in mind. Hence, many of them make better food wine. But not all of them. I will reiterate though, I think Champagne (as in the real McCoy, as opposed to other sparkling wines) as a whole is generally unfriendly to most food, though. There are other french sparklers such as Cremant d'Alsace which I think does a much better job, as does Cava and Prosecco. None of these go with Caviar, though. In the case of Bollinger (NV) and Pol Roger, these are two outstanding NM champagnes which I personally feel match well with many foods. But they are diamonds in the rough, so to speak.

Yeah. Now we're cooking with gas. Most of these are Recoltant Manipulant (Single estate champagnes). My case in point.

Now.

The problem with Mexican or an asian option is that it requires a lot of prep work to do properly and assemblage of the final product and as such may be difficult to implement if you have a small kitchen staff. Jambalaya, Gumbo, or as someone else pointed out, Chili, only requires the initial chopping up of the ingredients and everything is cooked in big pots, and is plated up real easy. The home cookin' meatloaf and mashed potatoes/comfort food angle is also good (with mac and cheese and greens?) again because of the simple preparation and also because of the familiarity.

Hey, I didn't say -parmesan- didn't go well with caviar. I bet the creme fraiche and the parmesan chips and caviar would go great with the chilled Vodka shots.

Giant pot of chicken and sausage Jambalaya. Or gumbo. Hell, you could do a jambalaya with chicken and sausage, and also do a gumbo, but make it a vegetarian gumbo, like a gumbo z'herbes, to make the inevitable "I hate meat" sorority girls happy and to give the frat boys their dosage of veggies. Serve with an assortment of hot sauces. I'm sure they don't get cajun food that often. Mix up some non-alcoholic hurricanes to go with it, and its a party.

I think someone said something similar recently on another thread, but as far as Coke goes, I too vastly prefer the Mexican (and Dominican) formulation over the US one. Actually the Mexican formulation of Pepsi is damn good too. You can usually find them in "Bodegas" or latin-american grocery stores. In actual Coke bottles with crown caps, too.

Yeah, but actually, I've made Shirley Temples recently with pomegranate juice mixed with 7-UP and they were really, really good.

Chicken Marsala with rice "a la roni" style and mesclun salad.

Well, Grenadine, the key component of the Shirley Temple, is made from reduced pomegranate juice.

See, there ya go, thats the politically correct answer. Nobody likes to be told their DP 1990 is a lousy match for food... I'm sorry Mark, but if I'm going to drink a champagne with caviar (which, BTW, no matter what the producer, is a horrendous combo to begin with, they totally smash into each other rather than compliment) I'm going to go with the lesser of all evils and drink a zero dosage champagne (which, as we all know, are virtually impossible to find these days). But my preferred accompaniment to caviar is chilled vodka. Vodka has a neutral flavor that doesn't get in the way of the fishiness/saltiness and other subtle flavors of the caviar. Sometimes I think the caviar/champagne combo happened strictly because some bourgeoisie genius in the 19th century saw that both items were expensive, could only be afforded by the rich, and decided to put them together, like in the Reese's commercial. As I said my tastes are quirky and my sentiments are not at all popular... standard disclaimers do apply, your mileage may vary, etc. etc.

Definitely not caviar. I think most people on this site who are familiar with my quirky wine tastes will know that I absolutely hate most big name Negociant Manipulant champagnes. For the most part I think Moet/Dom and other big name NM champagnes (with the rare exception of a few producers like Bollinger and Pol Roger) are a crappy match for most food because they have a filthy, unclean oaky aftertaste. My recommendation is that you drink the DP 1990 on its own to toast the new house and find something else to drink with dinner that matches better with food. Like a 10 dollar prosecco or a domestic sparkler like Argyle You may also want to read our own Craig Camp's excellent article about DP and other champagnes and sparklers: http://www.egullet.com/?pg=ARTICLE-campdollars also, we have a very long standing thread on favorite champagnes for under $50: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=10340

I've done this, its a great value.

Yeah, ok, I accept that, but then why does Bialetti market it as the "#1 espresso maker in the world"

I'm going to say Smith and Wollensky or Maloney and Porcelli (same restaurant group). Actually I think Maloney has bigger tables. Cite Grill is owned by the same company as well and serves the same steaks too -- and I recall they also have good sized tables. http://www.maloneyandporcelli.com/ http://www.citerestaurant.com/ http://www.smithandwollensky.com/

BTW, I bought a Moka pot (Bialetti 6 cup, original style) last month and have been using it ever since -- it makes a fantastic cup of coffee. Its not professional style barista espresso by any means, but it probably does make better home espresso than 90 percent of the 200 dollar plus consumer grade cappuccino/espresso units out there and is far less of a pain in the ass to clean and maintain. No crema, but the extraction is quite rich. I could totally drink Moka now instead of French Press.

Welcome to the site, IRC!

and, from what i can see in that pic, red cabbage!?! i think i usually just ignore the cilantro if i see it. i pretend it's not there. Actually, the condiment plate I have a picture of is not actually the Pho condiment plate. Its the Bun Bo Hue condiment plate, which has (in addition to the standard pho stuff) red cabbage as well as lettuce. The actual pho condiment plate I beleive was cilantro (asian cilantro), sprouts, basil, limes, sliced chiles. We ordered like 3 soups and like 6 appetizers that evening, so its easy to confuse all the condiment plates.

We actually stopped in to look at it last night, grabbed a menu, but didn't eat there. We probably should have, lol. We were dressed kind of schlumpy, wanting something a bit more casual so we opted not to eat there and headed toward Felice where we got sidetracked into eating at Frank's. Most entrees are under $15, pastas under $13, seafood dishes $17, fairly typical mid-range Italian American restaurant type stuff. Your basic sauteed chicken and veal dishes, some red sauce stuff. They had a nice looking dessert cart. BTW the place is called Intermezzo because after the appetizer, they serve you -- an Intermezzo (sherbet).

I've seen cilantro used at other vietnamese restaurants in Pho garnish plates but usually it is of a asian variety. Binh Duong serves it with cilantro, it was on the other side of that plate. Saigon Republic doesn't really serve a "traditional" pho, but it's damn good.

Houston Press food writer Robb Walsh will be the featured guest for the first eGullet Round Table , February 9 - 13, 2004. Our panel for this Round Table is composed of food and travel writers Russ Parsons, Ellen Shapiro and John Whiting. Richard Kilgore is moderator. We anticipate a lively discussion on Robb's new book, Are You Really Going To Eat That? , as well as on good food and the opportunities and challenges for food writers everywhere. Robb will be available for the usual eGullet member Q & A following the Round Table. We will be taking questions starting Monday, February 9th, and Robb will respond Wednesday through Friday. Guest and Panel Biographical Notes Robb Walsh has been described as "the Indiana Jones of food writers" by NPR's Lianne Hanson. His most recent book is Are You Really Going To Eat That?, a far-ranging collection of his food essays -- from eating durian in Thailand, searching for the ultimate cup of coffee in Jamaica and the hottest pepper sauce in Trinidad, and doing dutiful field research on truffles in the Perigord region of France and on Bresse chickens, to southern cooking, chicken-fried steak and introducing Jeffrey Steingarten to Houston barbecue. He is currently the restaurant critic for the Houston Press . Robb has been nominated for James Beard Awards multiple times for his magazine articles, newspaper series and restaurant reviews, and radio commentary on NPR. His book Legends of Texas Barbecue was nominated for a 2003 James Beard Cookbook Award in the Americana category. For several years Robb wrote the Natural History Magazine column "A Matter of Taste", which explored a wide range of issues in food history and science, as well as culinary anthropology. He also edited Chile Pepper Magazine and founded the Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival, the largest hot sauce competition in the world. In addition, Robb was food editor of the Austin Chronicle and has contributed to numerous other publications. Robb's past books include A Cowboy in the Kitchen , co-authored with Grady Spears; Nuevo Tex-Mex , co-authored with David Garrido; and Traveling Jamaica With Knife, Fork & Spoon , co-authored with Jay McCarthy. His work also appears in The Best Food Writing of 2001. Russ Parsons is food editor of the Los Angeles Times and author of How To Read a French Fry . Russ contributes frequently to the eGullet discussion forums. Ellen Shapiro (http://www.byellen.com) is a food and travel writer based in New York City. She is forum host for the eGullet Adventures in Eating forum, and her recent eGullet eight-part series on her travels in Mongolia has become an instant eGullet classic. John Whiting (http://www.whitings-writings.com/essays_home.htm) is an American who has lived in London for many years. His website food essays have been a favorite of food lovers and writers such as John Thorne. John Whiting also pops up frequently in the eGullet discussion forums.

I think Rachel summed up Uncle Frank's pretty well. I really wish we had continued on to Felice like we were going to. I would have been far, far happier there this evening. It's pretty unusual that I dislike a plate of food so badly that I leave more than 70 percent of it sitting on my plate -- especially something simple like a red sauce dish. The red sauce in my eggplant parm (and in Rachel's chicken parm) was very runny and watery, and the whole dish was incredibly salty. I know plenty of commercial marinara sauces you can get from the supermarket that tasted better than this. I don't think we're going back to Frank's, and I stand by my original assessment that we don't have enough -decent- red sauce places in Bergen County.

In the NY/NJ area Pho is usually accompanied by HOISIN sauce along with other condiments such as bean sprouts, basil, cilantro, lime wedges, chili pepper slices, sriracha, etc. Some people confuse hoisin sauce for plum sauce, but they are not the same thing. This is a plate of Pho condiments at Saigon Republic in Englewood, NJ. The condiment in the little dish is in fact hoisin sauce. Here is a plate of condiments for Pho at Binh Duong in Belleville, NJ. The hoisin sauce is in a squirt bottle on each table.

Rose water and rose petals (candied?) go well with hibiscus.

There's also Billy's Stone Crab in the hollywood area on N. Ocean Drive which serves very high quality stone crabs, but its probably around 30-40 minutes out of Miami. http://www.digitalcity.com/southflorida/en...le.adp?aid=3546 This is a page listing the prominent Stone Crab places in South Florida.