Jason Perlow

Well, I -WOULD- go across the bridge (my preference would have been Robertos in the Bronx, that definitely qualifies as Upscale) but we had a movie to see. If it werent for this particular incident I would actually say the food was very good there. But what they did in my mind was price gouging and bait and switch of the worst kind.

God I hate Connecticut.

This is a romantic little upscale southern Italian on River Road, just down the street from Kinara and close to the National Amusements Multiplex. We'd been there a few times 2 or 3 years ago but hadn't been in a while -- we were always impressed by the quality of their seafood (fresh fish of the day is very good, according to Rachel) and I liked their pasta dishes. We went there on friday night for a leisurely dinner prior to going out to see Star Trek at the Multiplex. It started out good: 1) Rachel had a stuffed squid appetizer, she loved it, I didnt try it cause I wasnt in the mood for squid. 2) I had a mixed sauteed wild mushroom appetizer with garlic. This really hit the spot and went great with the warm crusty fresh italian bread. I made the mistake of ordering the $18 pasta special, called "Black on Black". This was billed as "squid ink pasta, with black trumpet mushrooms and lobster in a light tomato sauce." What I got was black spaghetti (that much was accurate), with salty MANILLA CLAMS, finely chopped unidentifyable mushrooms, a very salty thin tomato sauce that was likely salt amplified by the manilla clams and NO LOBSTER. I repeat NO LOBSTER. When I brought this to the attention of the Maitre'd he told me in broken english that the dish didnt have peices of lobster in it, and tried to convince me that I was expecting too much, even though it was billed as a primary ingredient and no clams were mentioned on the specials card. I should have sent it back, but I felt uncomfortable (I never send stuff back for fear of body fluid retribution from the kitchen staff in some nasty way on my meal) so I ate it. My opinion on this is if you are going to charge $18.95 for a pasta dish and say theres gonna be lobster in it, there had BETTER FUCKING BE lobster in it, excuse my French. Now maybe lobster shells were used in the broth for the sauce, but I sure as hell didnt see any peices of lobster in this dish. If it was billed as manilla clams with black sphagetti and chopped black mushrooms I likely would not have ordered the dish. Rachel had her fresh fish of the day, said it was very fresh and very good. Despite the quality of the other food we have had there in the past, I'm now permanently down on this place for pulling a fast one on me. Anyone else want to convince me otherwise? I'm pissed.

Meanwhile, of course, these same non-smoking evangelists can feel free to topple their gas-guzzling SUV's on our highways, run us over with their Beemers and high performance murder-cars. The overfed can stuff their faces until they choke our hospitals with weight-related health problems, clog our emergency exits, take up three seats on the subway... HEY! Mister cancer sticks... I resemble that comment!

Negroni.

About Chef Ripert and Le Bernardin Born in Antibes, France in 1965, Chef Eric Ripert began his relationship with food in the most formative of all kitchens: his grandmother's. Watching, tasting and learning at her elbow, Ripert developed the Mediterranean palate that influences his cooking today. When the young chef's family moved to Andorra, just over the Spanish border, he expanded his repertoire to include Spanish flavors and ingredients. Ripert attended culinary school in Perpignan, France, and in 1982 went to work at La Tour d'Argent, the renowned Parisian establishment that dates back more than 400 years. Two years later, Ripert moved to the 3 Michelin star restaurant Jamin, where he soon was promoted to chef poissonier. In 1989, Ripert came to the United States to work as a sous chef for Jean Louis Palladin at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C. In 1991 he moved to New York, where he worked briefly as sous chef under David Bouley until he was hired by Maguy and Gilbert Le Coze as a chef for Le Bernardin. In 1995, Ripert earned four star rating for Le Bernardin from The New York Times: dishes such as Spanish Mackerel Tartare with Osetra Caviar and Sauce Ravigote, and Crispy Chinese Spiced Snapper with Cepes, Aged Port and Jerez Vinegar have earned him acclaim in magazines such as Food Arts, The Wine Spectator, W and Elle. In 1996, Chef Ripert became partners with Maguy Le Coze. Le Bernardin has consistently earned the highest awards in the industry from Zagat’s and from the James Beard Foundation, which tapped Eric as the top chef in New York in 1998. This year, Time Out New York recognized Le Bernardin as The Best Seafood Restaurant in New York. About A Return to Cooking (Amazon.com abstract) Eric Ripert, chef and part owner of New York's Le Bernadin, discovered that as his chef star rose he drifted far, far away from cooking. A Return to Cooking is his response to this sorry predicament, the result of a self-imposed challenge: to gather together disparate souls--a painter (Valentino Cortazar), a writer (Michael Ruhlman, author of The Making of a Chef and The Soul of a Chef), photographers (Shimon and Tammar Rothstein), and a personal assistant (Andrea Glick, who would write and test the spontaneously created recipes)--and simply cook. The settings (and fresh food ingredients) are spectacular. Sag Harbor in summer. Puerto Rico in winter. California's Napa Valley in spring. Vermont in fall. Rent a house, shop for food, and make the meals happen. For anyone who has ever wanted to understand how a great cook looks at ingredients and settles on a plan, A Return to Cooking is it. In Puerto Rico the reader is treated to Caramelized Pineapple Crepes with Crème Frâiche; Shrimp with Fresh Coconut Milk, Calabaza, and Avocado; and Seared Tuna with Escabeche of Pear Tomatoes. About the Q&A (beginning December 16) Due to Chef Ripert's time constraints, there will be a maximum of 25 questions asked with no followups. The session will be fully moderated, and we will only be releasing one question per user at a time -- we will release additional user's questions (a maximum of 3 per user) towards the end of the week, if there is room. Chef Ripert has graciously offered 3 copies of A Return to Cooking to the users who ask the 3 best questions. Good luck to everyone in what is bound to be a very exciting Q&A!

Our thanks go out to Diane and Micheal for making this such a great and engaging Q&A! And congrats to the lucky winners who will receive Diane's book!

http://forums.egullet.org/ibf/index.php?ac...=ST&f=2&t=13375 I dont think restaurants in Cuba change that often.

As we discussed I would be interested to see what the chef at Craft could have come up with at the same price point as this meal. Any reason why you chose Craft (and Gramercy Tavern) as a point of comparison? I mean, neither of them are Italian restaurants.

I think we need Big T's input on this one.

Luis Ayala's RumShop.net had a big roundup of commercial rumcakes recently in their November 2002 Newsletter: http://www.rumshop.net/newsletters/november2002.pdf You'll need Adobe Acrobat Reader (click) to read it.

Dom I'd love to buy some shooters and rocks glasses off you.

Since Cuba's sugar industry is quite old I suspect that the machinery is not the most modern and the sugar content in the molasses is quite high. Then maybe its not such a hot idea to modernize Cuba's rum industry, from a Rum drinkers point of view. I mean, its the impurities I think that give a rum its character. How highly refined to we really want it to be? Thats one of the reasons why I think Matusalem Anejo Superior stands out, it tastes "primitive" and small batch to me. Bacardi could learn from this by going back to a more primitive process for a super-premium line, if Castro ever dies and they end up back in Cuba.

By the way, I ordered a few of these from the guy in Germany, Ralph Schneider, and I got them yesterday. I got 6 of the tumblers and the shaker. The tumblers are VERY nice, high quality thick strong glasses made in Italy with the Havana Club logos on them with shot measure markings on the side. They are a bit tall though, I am not sure if they are good for regular rum sipping (I prefer brandy glasses for this) but for Mojitos, Rum and Cokes, Daquiris and basically any other mixed drink, or Rum on the rocks, these should be FANTASTIC glasses. The Havana Club shaker is definitely professional bar quality and will be my standard shaker of choice at my next party. The shipping and insurance was expensive, about 60 bucks altogether to New Jersey. The six glasses and the Shaker came out to 79 euros. Not too bad if you want a really classy and unique bar set, its not like you can get these in the States. I only wish he had Havana Club shotglasses or snifters.

Now THIS is a knife: http://www.cutleryandmore.com/shop/details.asp?SKU=608 Thats a 14-inch Wusthof HEAVY. Its like a freaking broadsword. I'm thinking I'd like a 10 inch "wide" in the Culinar series but it dont exist.

ok. Can anybody tell me what the hell the difference is between the previous 10 inch chef knife and THIS one? http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...3/egulletcom-20 I mean the only difference I see is a 40 dollar difference. It looks like the same knife.

Okay back to knives. So Rachel and I ended up at Chef Central last weekend, and we tried a couple of cool knives out, and chopped up a couple of unlucky russets with them. So I finally got to handle the Global. Its a frickin cool knife. But I think that being bolsterless and so lightweight, I will probably cut my hand off with it if I slip. Surprisingly, I liked a new line of Wusthof, the "Culinar" (click) Anyone have any experience with these? They are way different than the other Wusthofs, for sure. I also like this 10-inch mother. It seems to be the only other Wusthof chef knife that is bigger than 8 inches. I have big hands so I have no problem handling it but Rachel might have some difficulty.

I'd go with Jaymes' recommendation. Dos Equis, Tecate or a Negro Modelo if you like dark beer. Make sure you got limes to go with em. Corona is just piss. Margaritas are also a nice option.

For chef Otsuka: What was it like to have been the chef for Wolfgang Puck? Was it an experience that trained or affected you in any special way?

Ed: I DEFINITELY want to go to that event.

my understanding is he made this announcement because the cuban sugar industry is falling apart and its becoming too expensive for them to make rum. So they might have to start rationing for domestic consumption and raise the price for export.

Well, is there any Matusalem Anejo Superior left to be found or isn't there?

http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/americas/12/...o.ap/index.html

everything I have heard about this place from real Russians is that it sucks.

An internet friend of mine who visits Barbados fairly often speaks of a "Black" grade mount gay rum which is apparently older than the Extra Old. Reportedly its a blend that is 20 years old minimum. Any one have any information about it?