Jason Perlow

Holly, given your predilection for this kind of food, do you have any preference on anti-diahhreal and other upset stomach medications, such as Imodium, Mylanta and Pepto-Bismol? Also, what's your opinion on the use of Shout versus traditional, as well as non tradiitonal methods for grease stain removal?

The soups were ok, I was a bit disappointed the Tom Yum only had one shrimp in it. The broth was quite spicy though and the mushrooms in it were good. Rachel's soup was kind of bland. The Tom Kha Gai soup we had on the first meal was very good though, I'd order it again. I only had a little taste of Rachel's beef salad. I thought it could be spicier, but rachel ordered it very mild. The dip was interesting, the soybeans imparted a unique flavor to it but I think we liked the other dip better. My noodles were very good, but they didn't come out spicy enough (read as not spicy at all, which is criminal for Kee Maow noodles) because rachel made her usual protestation about not making her stuff spicy, and thus they assumed I didnt want anything spicy either. Next time they know better. I lectured them sufficiently.

Really? Thats too bad. I figured by being more of a pain in the ass and having to customize my order it would end up being fresher. However, one would think that making them do it the way I mention HAS to result in a better product, because at least the Whopper isnt sitting under a heat lamp for an hour or two with the mayo going rancid on it.

My understanding is that using dried beans and doing an overnight soak is what gets the gas out.

I've seen and had this red sauce you describe, its sweet and slightly on the spicy side. It's techically Korean Sashimi Sauce and I think you can find it bottled. It does have a little bit of gochujang in it.

http://www.burgerking.com/Food/products/sfcb.aspx Thats the lowdown on the Bayless sandwich. BTW in my opinion, the only sandwich worth eating at a BK is either the original Whopper or Double Whopper, sans mayo. It's a perfectly decent fast food burger, provided it doesn't have a ton of that mayo on it. For some reason BK's tend to really overdo it on the mayo. I don't even like it with bacon or cheese or any other crap on it. Also, ordering it that way pretty much ensures they are going to cook you a fresh specimen.

They're open for lunch during the week, but not on Saturday or Sunday, correct.

New kratiem pics from lunch today: Tom Yum Goong Soup Thai Ravioli Soup Soybean and Ground Chicken Dip Thai Beef Salad Flat Noodles with Pork, Chili and Basil (Pad Kee Maow)

Read the thread on Kratiem. Lots of pictures, and I'm about to post some more. Thai Chef will be open within 2 weeks, according to the owner.

If you want to take a trip up to the mountain overlooking everything, go to Bay View Farm for AMAZING 100 percent Kona Coffee (not the blended mostly colombian shit, the real goods). They are the second largest processor of coffee beans on the island and VERY nice people. We visited them on our honeymoon 8 years ago. We still buy coffee and Macadamia Nuts from them. Their mac nuts are HUGE and they are naturally dried, they aren't over salted or have an icky dusty coating on them. http://www.bayviewfarmcoffees.com/

We occassionally vacuum marinate at home if we are pressed for time. Our Telia Foodsaver can vacuum marinate -- we simply put the meat in one of the special plastic jars, toss in the marinade, seal it up, jiggle it around for a bit, and vacuum all the air out. 15 minutes or so later, you got marinaded meat. I like to let it go for an hour, if I want a really strong marinaded flavor.

I would like to add that Katieloeb's mousakka is even better on the second day. We had it for dinner tonight. Question, was the omission of a potato layer on purpose, because your friend is on Atkins? Or is this a legitimately potato-free mousakka?

Tommy, face it, your wife out-classes you big time on the breeding front.

I'm still talking to her about doing some writing for us. We'll see.

BTW here is a link to La Caridad's Menu Here are two other cuban chinese places, which I have not been to: Bak Wong Kitchen 941-7751 381 Broadway La Dinastia 212-362-3801 145 W 72nd St anyone been to either?

That may be true of the Mexican joints on this thread, but La Caridad is the real deal though. All the staff are ethnic chinese from cuba. The cuban food they have is legitimately cuban and the chinese food is.. well.. legitimlately 1960's era Chinese American. I spoke to my chinese waiter, William, in Spanish, and he explained the whole chinese migration to cuba thing to me.

Bobolink's mac and cheese was made with their blue cheese.. very very funky stuff.

Or worse, Old Homestead.

What, you didnt see the Gamma Ray and FM radio jello layers?

Yes, I made sure Rachel did it in the correct order of the electromagnetic spectrum.

You sir (and Mr Stone as well), are on crack. You clearly don't appreciate La Caridad for what it is. Rachel and I ate at La Caridad at 78th street last night for the first time, after dropping elyse off. This has to be one of the ultimate best places to eat well-prepared retro-style Chinese food (read as 1960's) in all of NYC. I am so glad we decided to go in. Their egg rolls are way above average specimens as they contain cuban-stlye roast pork as well as shrimp -- these are the closest you are probably gonna get to the egg rolls that you ate with your parents and grandparents at old brooklyn and queens chinese places. We took FOUR of these home. House Special Fried rice (Arroz Frito de la Casa) was very good -- brown-colored fried with lots of soy sauce, with pulled apart roast chicken, cuban roast pork, ham and shrimp thrown in with a little bit of sauteed lettuce. Shrimp Egg Foo Young was a total throwback, with cornstarch-thickened deep brown soy gravy. Perfection. The Garbanzo bean and chorizo saute in tomato sauce appetizer came out 3rd degree burning hot (tempature wise), also very tasty although we brought most of it home. About the only thing we didnt like was their orange-yolk colored egg drop soup. I'm really looking forward to trying their spare ribs next time. Seriously guys, this place is great. Where else can you speak in Spanish to a Chinese waiter named William and also practice your Cantonese? Its also open to 10:30 at night, which is a huge plus.

I think this is one of Bourdain's favorite haunts, if I am not mistaken.

We've had a lot of discussion on this. Best Burger (See my note on Jackson Hole) Blue Smoke (a barbecue restaurant with a reportedly very good burger) Wollensky's Grill (excellent steak house as well) Peter Luger (The ULTIMATE new york steak house, with reportedly the ultimate burger as well) All of these are very conservative burgers, with emphasis on the meat. Evan Lobel, master butcher at Lobel's in NYC, recently said that he liked the burger at Jackson Hole, which is a burger place that serves HUGE hamburgers with many kinds of toppings of your choice. Fat Guy, my partner in crime likes the burgers at City Hall a lot.

Thanks Peter! This had to be one of our wackiest and most entertaining Q&A's yet. Feel free to check out some of our other food threads!

Unaltered Hi Res Pictures from Potluck You need to log onto Imagestation (free) to be able to view these. Have fun. These are BIG pictures people.