Jason Perlow

Personally for the superbowl I am a hot dogs or italian sausage (SAAAASAGE!) kind of guy.

My favorite vodka in my liquor cabinet, bar none.

Yes, I have the Rhum Blanc and the XO, which I brought home back from my recent trip to Saint Martin. The blanc makes a perfect Ti Punch and the XO is as good as it gets for rhum vieux.

I'm not sure if this is a good example or not. I'd be more interested in what the wine stores in Paris carry.

Does anyone know if the pasta tasting menu changes seasonally?

I'd go with all these suggestions and add one more: Thai Beef curry. Slice up the beef per FG's suggestion and stir fry with veggies, but then put in a few healthy spoonfulls of green or red curry paste, fry it up a bit more, and then toss in a shot of thai fish sauce. Add coconut milk, then serve over jasmine rice.

Lots of small portions of stuff sauteed in butter or olive oil, served in small metal pans. Stuff served very simply. Most tapas dishes are anything but complex.

There's not much I can add to SuzanneF's wonderful review, as I think it captures the essence of the dining experience we had marvelously. I would say this is the probably best pasta meal I have ever had in my entire life, and perhaps the only other restaurant that can approach pasta of this quality in the NY area would probably be the fantastic Robertos in the Arthur Avenue section of the Bronx, which also specializes in fresh pasta dishes of this type. I'm really looking forward to returning to Babbo and trying some of their other stuff -- while getting up to to go the restroom, I noticed some servers walking around with the most ruby-red paper thin slices of Prosciutto San Daniele... I was tempted to order one of these in addition to our tasting menu, but I subsided. This type of tasting menu with small flights of pastas of different textures and flavors is in my (and and also 201's) opinion probably the optimal presentation for pasta, as it negates the monotony that frequently occurs when eating a large portion. Every dish had a distinct style and flavor, and required tremendous skill to prepare. My personal favorites were the black tagliatelle (first) and the pappardelle bolognese (last). I could easily eat a whole normal sized portion of the bolognese myself, the sauce was heavy yet the pasta was ethereal itself at the same time, a pasta paradox if you will. The Alejandro's Pyramids were really cool from a visual perspective, and the braised beef short rib stuffing in them was very tasty indeed -- it too evoked warm memories of my grandmother's pot roast at Passovers and Rosh Hashanas of yore. The bread as others mentioned was extremely addictive -- The chewy sourdough contrasted nicely with the burnt, caramelized taste of the flaky crust, and was excellent for mopping up each plate. So Is pasta "worth" eating? Hell yes.

The one thing I will say is Craft's food LOOKS monochromatic, presentation wise. That doesn't make it bad though. Rachel and I thoroughly enjoyed the last meal we had there. Actually it looks a lot like the spanish meals you get in tapas bars :)

Tommy: You stir fry them as you would any other chinese noodle. The korean ones are typically used in soups, Mandoo Guk is a popular one. China 46 serves a great stir fried rice cake Shanghai style with pork. Try it the next time you are there.

Good God, Fornos of Spain in Newark? The one meal I had there was the most overcooked and disappointing Spanish meal I have ever had in my life. My grandmother couldnt overcook broccoli like the way they did. Soggy papas fritas? Ick. Go elsewhere. Anywhere but there.

You can get 100 percent Kona a lot less cheaper than JBM. http://www.bayviewfarmcoffees.com/ If you are so inclined you can buy a pound of GREEN peaberry or extra fancy Kona beans from these guys for under 11 bucks a pound and roast it yourself. Their roasted price for extra fancy is $21 a pound. I have visited their estate on Kona and I can assure the quality of the product. Its very, very good. They are the second largest processor of 100 percent kona beans on the entire island, only Captain Cook is bigger than they are but I feel Bay View's quality is vastly superior. I will note that many who say they have had real kona may very well have not, because the labelling restrictions in the past for Kona have not been very tight, many are blended with colombian robusto and are still called Kona. Only recently has the Hawaiian state government been clamping down on kona blending fraud. Caveat Emptor (click)

Its supposed to be a very smooth coffee with extremely low acidity, which is why the Jamaicans largely drink it black with just a bit of sugar. Kona has very similar characteristics. How did you prepare it, in a french press or a drip coffee maker?

This looks quite doable. I think we will have to try this.

Suvir: Whats your favorite preparations for pakora? what veggies and spice mixtures do you use? This is one of my favorite indian snacks, the indian answer to tempura.

Arthur Schwartz has a bit to say on this dish as well: http://www.thefoodmaven.com/radiorecipes/c...chick_fran.html He believes it is from Brooklyn or Bronx NY but I have heard that it may actually be from Hoboken or Newark.

There is no classic. Its an Italian-American dish and I am pretty sure it was invented in Jersey.

Its a very basic recipe. Essentialy dip the chicken breasts (pounded) in flour, then in an eggwash with grated romano or parmesan and parsley, then dip in flour again. Cook in olive oil and add butter. Deglaze with a lot of lemon juice and some chicken stock. Optionally slice up some lemons and cook with the chicken. Dust with chopped parsely. Serve over cooked pasta.

Now if I can only find a realistically priced bottle in the western hemisphere without having to travel to Jamaica, that would be great :) I'm a huge fan of their Extra and 21.

Fascinating.

The technique was established in the mid 1800's in Spain to make Brandy De Jerez (Sherry brandy), which I'm writing an a article on for eGullet's home page.

Oldest being 50? I dunno. I think we need Ed to verify that.

The Armagnac drinking I'm up with, but I don't like white sheets. They make me look fat.

Ortolans. I ate so many of those frickin little things they ran out of em.

Well, we do that to keep oxidation from accumulating on the surface of the cast iron pans. But we're not talking about a lot of grease here, just a film of oil.