Jason Perlow

Mario Batali's Babbo Cookbook Here's eGullet's review: http://www.egullet.com/?pg=ARTICLE-babbobook edit: ah, I see you looked at it already.

Theres some good chili recipes on recipegullet: http://recipes.egullet.com/dosearch.php?PH...um_quick_cats=2

Papaya King was first. Grays was second. However, Grays is usually regarded as the better place, since its cheaper and the hot dogs are considered to be somewhat better. Seriously, where the hell else on this planet can you get two grilled Sabretts and a Papaya drink for $2.75?

Had a really good chicken marsala type dish at the diner today, with lots of mushrooms and melted cheese and ham on it.

$25 for veal parmigiana is criminal. The most rip off place I've ever had it was Dominics in the Bronx, and I think they maybe charged $16.

Seriously.

Its amazing what eGullet thread will end up in a internationally distributed magazine: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/...-474562,00.html If its to be beleived, according to the author, the Z-Carb bar has been selling as hot as the Butterfinger in 7-11 stores.

If a restaurant can give you that feeling, its definitely worth it. I'd pay good money to feel like that again.

http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2003/8/6/20560/73199 "Much as I might joke about it, this really is a remarkably consistent and successful technique for cooking chicken. For many folks who like to cook, roasting or otherwise preparing a whole chicken is the real test of someone who knows what they're doing. Ending up with a chicken where the white meat and dark meat are both thoroughly cooked, but they're both moist, and the dark meat's not greasy while the white meat isn't dry, is no simple thing."

Did anyone notice ERIC RIPERT ordering in one of the cut shots? Why the hell didn't they show more of him and his posse? Was that the table Bourdain was at?

Have a look at these: http://dmoz.org/Home/Cooking/World_Cuisine...ional_Cuisines/ http://theory.tifr.res.in/bombay/history/p...people/cuisine/

I beleive the rum is owned by Pernod Ricard, as its an appropriation of the Havana Club logo, which is curently used in Cuba. The Havana Club brand has been in contestation by Bacardi ever since their infrastructure was seized by the Cuban government in 1959 -- which is why Pernod Ricard is not using that name. Pernod Ricard distributes the cuban product in other countries. Theres a Havana Club gold rum owned by Bacardi which is sold in the US, but its an inferior product to the cuban one. There are other "Mojito" flavored rums, such as Marti Mojito.

A lot of kinds, theres a lot of provinces in India. Plus the different ethnic groups. Most of this is not represented in the US or in England, though.

Most of the indian food in the US is moghlai and punjabi. In Jersey, especially in Iselin and Edison, theres a much wider array of stuff, especially for South Indian.

Queer Eye does it tastefully. The Restaurant's is insulting. Given that they work the sponsors into the show as opposed to flashing products like they do on The Restaurant, the Queer Eye approach is so much better. All of the furniture and clothing companies they pick for the show are really a soft sell. I wouldn't mind seeing Ted showcase some interesting gourmet products the same way the other three do it with furniture, clothing and grooming produts. The only one that they really had which was a hard sell is the DiSaronno, but they did it in a tasteful way.

My advice is to go with some interesting side dishes. Last year I beleive we made a few sephardic and middle-eastern side dishes to go with the traditional stuff.

Rachel made a really interesting Matzo Ball soup one year which had pureed squash in the broth... Golden Matzo Ball soup as I recall it was called. I thought it was delicious, but everyone else preferred the tried and true stuff. This last passover we wanted to do a full blown Sephardic one, just so we could freak our family out, but we settled on just Sephardizing the charoset, based on Katieloeb's recipe. Theres a cool recipe for it on RecipeGullet.com . For the most part I detest food during the Jewish holidays, because its the same heartburn inducing stuff for weeks in a row.

BTW, welcome Marlena, its great to have you here.

If your family is anything like ours, nothing weird or innovative, because it won't be appreciated.

Thank you VERY much Michael, for the very revealing Q&A! We hope you stick around eGullet for quite some time, if not just to torture Tony a bit more.

whosrbud: just say no to imagestation.com. Its totally unreliable.

The entire town of Iselin and Edison, NJ is one big Indian restaurant. http://yp.yahoo.com/py/ypResults.py?stp=y&...elin,+NJ+indian In Manhattan, Diwan and Tabla are your best bets. Ask Suvir Saran about others. Indian food in the US is not like what it is in the UK. With the exception of NJ, it really hasn't caught on. Our primary take away cuisine is Chinese, not Indian.

Definitely the Barrilitos.

Only a finite number of liquor licenses exist in any particular town. Someone has to give one up in order to get one, and in some towns they have sold for anywhere between half a million and a million dollars.

From Regina: Alrighty then. Thanks Regina.