bigred93

I would agree with prior posters - L'Express is definitely worth a visit but is great for lunch, try Toque! for dinner, it's truly outstanding. I learned a good life lesson at L'Express... I made a point of insisting on ordering off the french menu. I ordered "rognons de veau avec sauce moutarde" without knowing what rognons were, figuring - hey, veal, mustard sauce in a place like this, how bad could it be? The answer: not bad at all, but since then I have never forgotten that "rognons" translates to "kidneys" in English.

In Ithaca, thumbs up on Willow but unfortunately down on Blue Stone. Pangea, however, would get a thumbs up, as would The Heights.

I'm nowhere near as expert as Doc or NathanM but I too am skeptical of an "outbreak" of five supposed events in New York with absolutely no news coverage at all. I also can't help to add... I'm not one to judge, but gosh: mmm mmm, beached marine mammal carcass.

No - did not make it. But I'm now dating a food savvy woman who lives in Ithaca and that might make a good weekend destination - thanks for reminding me! And if you pass through Ithaca be sure to check out Carriage House Cafe - a new place on Stewart Ave near Buffalo - just below the Cornell campus. Excellent food, simple menu with fair prices (reasonable considering the quality of the ingredients) and they serve world class espresso drinks - they really are that good. There's also an on-premises bakery that bakes the best baguette I've had in years. ← Carriage House is nice, but in my book, Gimme! has the best coffee in Ithaca, and a large radius around too. (Which is the roast that Carriage uses, but I'd rather get it brewed at the source.)

I too wanted to add in my thanks here to all who have contributed to the assemblage of knowledge here, especially NathanM. I've gone through back to the very beginning and read through, and am now the proud owner of a tilia foodsaver 1205 and a VWR 1230 water bath. I did some test chicken breasts last night which came out quite well, thanks to Nathan's excellent time/temp tables. I'm looking forward to trying my hand at some longer-duration proteins soon. (Brisket this weekend I think). Now if I could only find a quick way to calibrate the water bath... Nathan, great article in the WSJ today btw.

Well - to resuscitate an old thread here - I can vouch for Y Ben House. I was there today for lunch. I was one of four white faces in the room, and the only one alone. They sat me at a big round table covered in a faded pink plastic tablecloth with a lazy susan in the center, across from a few folks eating lunch there with their kids. Every now and again a lady with a cart would come by, and pick up a plate and wave it at me, and say really loudly something like YOOO WAHHH POT STICKA!??!? and then everyone around us would laugh. Quite an experience, and a very tasty one too. I did learn quickly to follow instructions though; one person offered me a steamed rice paper dumpling with some seafood in it, and instead I pointed to three fat, opaque disks which she described as "pancake". She was suggesting the dumplings, which I thought were too much food. I got the pancakes, which turned out to be custard filled. Tasty, but not how I wanted to start my meal, and also gave my dining companions a good chuckle. Anyway, I would agree that the place doesn't have a tremendous amount of foo-foo ambiance, nor does it have an antiseptic aura to it, to put it kindly. But it was a great and tasty experience, and well worth the $10 I spent (leaving absolutely stuffed, so much so it was hard to walk up the hill again afterwards, and leaving a decent amount left over).

Sorry to be dumb here, but what's a hybrid produced without genetic engineering? If hybridization isn't genetic engineering, what is it? Middle school biology was a long time ago for me.

Nothing like a tough gizzard to make having a metal pipe shoved down your neck feel like a Swedish massage! And then the force-feeding followed by slaughter! I don't know which is more fun, eating the foie gras or being the duck that gives it up! In my experience, both sides in this debate have an unfortunate bent for ludicrous oversimplification. I eat foie gras, I have friends who won't. We all agree, however, even at the top of the food chain, there is merit in avoiding needless cruelty. Whether foie gras production falls into that category is a legitimate question. Building up straw men and knocking them down ("The beautiful irony here is that anti-foie advocates' anthropomorphizing of geese is actually one of the most grossly human-centric things they could do") or falling back onto glib observations ("Food chain. Top. The end.") brings very much illumination to the discussion. ← Acutally, no straw man there. Anthropomorphizing geese is - by definition - a human-centric thing to do. Your (glib) observation is that the feeding process used for foie gras must be painful. Why? Because it seems like it would be so - would you like it if it were you? But - again - you're not a goose. Neither am I. Geese aren't people. Do you know that it's painful for geese other than a glib human-centric assumption that it must be so? Without that, I don't think you have a leg to stand on that this is cruel. The strawman that "if you eat foie and support its production you must like kicking cats and torturing dogs" only works if the production of foie is as painful a process as being a kicked cat or tortured dogs. Do you care to provide any evidence of that based on anything other than applying human feelings to geese? I'm not saying no evidence exists, I'm just not aware of any.

Duh! Of course, you're absolutely right. Don't know how I could forget Cornell BBQ... just made some the other day.

That's the most interesting argument I've heard yet and certainly the most likely to get someone to shut up about this topic...... Thanks for posting!!!! ← The beautiful irony here is that anti-foie advocates' anthropomorphizing of geese is actually one of the most grossly human-centric things they could do. I keep hoping that come some August or September PETA will organize a trip to the Arctic to hang out with all those cute and cuddly-wuddly polar bears, and in the process come face to face with the food chain issue brought up by others here...

I think I see the angle I can take with my wife on this one... 750ml bottles seem to be going for about $275, which would mean that 8 of them would cost $2,200, so buy buying the Imperial I would make $300! Who doesn't want a free $300? I mean, come on! Just like it's lying there on the street, waiting to be picked up... Good thing they don't ship to my state.

That sounds like an excellent sandwich, but not what I've ever gotten. I think I'd prefer the version you describe, and I won't hazard a guess about what's "authentic", but every version I've been served, either in little diner-ish restaurants, bars, or at parties, has had the already-sliced beef floating in a pool of hot brothy jus, therefore not blood-rare, at least not for long... Certainly at parties, that was just part of the practicality of holding it on a buffet line, but even at restaurants, it's been the same. That said, I'm sure I've never had one at the actual point of origin, presumably at some bar in Buffalo. Anyone have an opinion about where one can get the "ideal" version of a beef on wick/weck? And would the beef be rare? ← I think you'd have a hard time finding beef on a wick in Ithaca anymore - I'm not aware of it being offered anywhere. Or a garbage plate for that matter. Sadly I think Ithaca's most well-known contribution to the culinary world - other than legions of Hotelies of course - is... gasp, it pains me to say it... Moosewood. Yeesh. I would love to believe that the Hot Truck / Stouffer's french bread pizza connection legend is true, however... that might trump Moosewood.

Wonderful thread - it sounds like your employers are lucky to have you. I'm having a hard time understanding/imagining the lunch you describe above. Would you mind briefly elaborating? What do you mean by "fondue of fennel", for example?

Very funny... Turnabout is fair play! I do feel bad that they had to eat a nice steak well done to try and prove a point...

whoa whoa whoa, what? tell me more. ← His place is called Hot Doug's and it's here in Chicago : Hot Doug's 3324 North California Chicago, IL 60618 Phone: 773 279-9550 =R= ← Yeah... sorry... that's the place. Very off the beaten path but worth the trip. I went twice on a trip to Chicago several months ago... on a day that included a breakfast meeting and a lunch meeting, neither of which were anywhere near his place. Doug is a very nice guy. I would respectfully suggest you not ask for ketchup. I'm very sad to be missing the special of the week: Cognac-Infused Smoked Pheasant Sausage with Truffle Sauce Moutarde and Goat Cheese $6.50 ... and I love the fact that this is on the same page as another special: Veggie Corn Dog $2.00

Well, first off, that's exactly NOT what I said. Nowhere did I say (nor do I feel) that I *prefer* rudeness. So I don't know where you got that from, and it's not an accurate representation of my point of view. I guess that makes me easier to disagree with, though... Aren't we better off having a few loonies out there who care about what they serve than a world where only the super-nice survive? Is their contribution to cuisine so small that it's neutralized when they go off the deep end every now and again? Seems like you'd say "yes". ← Sure, you said EXACTLY that, that a 'screw you' attitude is preferable in order to have good food. QUOTE "I would rather patronize an establishment where someone would say "screw you, you can't have tomatoes because they aren't good enough" rather than just sheepishly throw on some mushy, greenish-yellow disks from the fridge." END QUOTE. How sad for you, that you think that those are your only options. They aren't, by far. I would rather simply spend the short moments it requires to find the alternative, better food and better attitude. And it exists so far, everywhere I've ever been, and I've been many places. And, no we are not better off accepting "loonies" who care about what they serve, but not a whit for their clientele, in fact disprespect their clientele! And, this thread isn't about "loonies"( does the lady worship the moon?), but about rudeness and a sense of entitlement to such behavior. Are you really wont to say that those are your only alternatives? They certainly have never been mine, whether I've been rich or poor, in the midst of war I've had more options. To say that my not accepting rudeness is a championing of mediocrity is silly, silly, silly. Absurd and definitely very Kafka of you. However, you're right, I say, YES. A talented but rude chef, I'm not interested. It's my life, I've experienced the worst in the world much more often than you could be aware, and I don't tolerate the small minded pettiness of rude or snobbish behavior from anyone. What comes to my mind when I see that kind of behavior is that those people don't know the world, truly. I have seen so much of REALITY, which has NOTHING to do with the quality of a tomato, that watching someone behave in such a way is the most foolish thing I could see, simply wasteful of life, and I'm not interested. And, BTW, why didn't that other guy just fry those green disks? Fried green tomatoes, yum. edited by me for spelling, yuck! ← Well, I suppose loonies could be worshipping ducks, too, but that's another issue altogether. I really think that you've taken a very polarized view of what I've said and meant, but from the intensity of your response here I suppose there's not much middle ground for us here, and for that I'm sorry. Like you, I will continue to look for places where both the service and the commitment to excellent food are high. I suppose you find many more of these places than I do. I find that many places lack one or the other and require some form of compromise - maybe that's Kafkaesque to you, but to me it's more a sense of realism. Clearly the behavior attributed to Ms Greenwood is quite poor, but I'm not dissuaded from going to Buck's to see what she can add to cuisine... from what I've read at least, it sounds like her food is both original and excellent. She seems to have a combination of great passion, a thin skin, and very little interpersonal finesse. I just don't think that's a hangin' offense, personally, and I'd be sad if a lack of interpersonal skills (and a thin skin) kept people with her passion and creativity out of the kitchen. I think we'd all be worse off for it.

Well, first off, that's exactly NOT what I said. Nowhere did I say (nor do I feel) that I *prefer* rudeness. So I don't know where you got that from, and it's not an accurate representation of my point of view. I guess that makes me easier to disagree with, though. Obviously I'd love to live in a world where all food everywhere is perfect and all service is super duper nice and attentive and flexible and all that. If you can find such a world, please let me know. Instead, what I see are some establishments that get the service right, but not the food; some that get the food right and not the service; some do neither; and in some blessed occasions, both are great. To the extent that this forum serves as a place to mobilize opinions and represents a bully pulpit, it seems to me that we all want to encourage establishments to the "both great" position. But I'm not seeing anyone trying to advocate for a boycott or lawsuit against Sbarro, despite that what they try and pass off as pizza is criminal. But here Ms Greenwood goes off the deep end (admittedly not for the first time) and the sense seems to be "to the barricades! get out the pitchforks!" Is that really the right set of priorities? Accommodative service with crappy food is somehow more ok than thoughtful food and crappy service? Aren't we better off having a few loonies out there who care about what they serve than a world where only the super-nice survive? Is their contribution to cuisine so small that it's neutralized when they go off the deep end every now and again? Seems like you'd say "yes".

I'm not a lawyer, I don't want to be a lawyer, and I don't play a lawyer on TV. So I'm going to stay out of whether or not plating design or recipes are copyrights or trademarks or somehow protected IP. That said... I find this whole thread interesting, and just a touch disturbing. I'm trying to think of how to say this with the balance that I intend, and I may not be able to do that. So... after I hit "post" I will promptly duck. I've not eaten at Buck's, although it's on my list for one of my next trips back to DC. I have to say that while I personally would have been offended with how this was handled, had I been the one on the receiving end of Ms. Greenwood's tirade, it won't stop me from going there in the future. I guess, at the end of the day... I'm happier to have people like Mark Furstenburg who won't serve tomatoes out of season, or Chris Bianco who won't do his pizza for takeout or allow substitutions on his pies, or Doug Sohn who only does duck fat fries on Fri and Sat and is only open 6 hours a day just because. I'm sure each one of these folks could be described as a little 'psycho' by customers, and I'm sure there are folks out there who have stories to tell about one or the other being unreasonable (from the point of view of the patron). But aren't we better off for having these folks out there? I, for one, would rather have more "soup nazis" and fewer bland but obsequious "customer is always always right" places. I would rather patronize an establishment where someone would say "screw you, you can't have tomatoes because they aren't good enough" rather than just sheepishly throw on some mushy, greenish-yellow disks from the fridge. Obviously, it's better if they're nice about it, but do we want to vilify those whose "inner artiste" is stronger than their ability to play nice with others? Is that really any worse than places that sling crap food with a smile? There are *lots* of those, and in a lot of cases I find those to be more offensive than a restaurant that cares about its food but comes off as imperious.

Bryan, Thanks for sharing all of your experiences here. I've enjoyed cooking vicariously through your experiences and how thorough you've been. A couple quick questions if you don't mind: 1. Have you found anyone to confirm your (possible) concern about propane by-products from using a Bernzomatic torch? I assume like you mentioned before it's the same deal as a gas grill, but I'm curious to see if anyone has contradicted that. 2. There was some talk early on about a system to add water back into the bath. How have you resolved that, or is it not an issue? Just thinking about 36 hours at 65C would suggest to me some evaporation problems. That said, you'd want to be careful about the temp of the new water you're introducing. Thanks! Keep it coming...

Wife and I went a couple nights ago and we can reiterate what's been said here on this forum (sometimes, said long ago). From the sounds of it, not much has changed... from my perspective as well the foie and the short ribs were two standouts on the menu, although neither my wife nor I found any items to be weak or lacking. (She had the hamachi tartare and the chicken with polenta and trumpet mushrooms - both excellent.) The wine list was truly fantastic, although we wound up ordering by the glass. Not many places you can get d'Yquem by the glass... and I had not heard of a number of the varietals on that list (tocai friulano? touriga franca?) so despite all the temptations on the main market and reserve lists - magnum of 1900 Margaux anyone? we decided to go with variety. I very much appreciated the small scale of the room and the spare design, although Veritas like many other NYC restaurants suffers from the scourge of lining up its two-tops against the wall, 6" apart. The staff was attentive and friendly. The only two nits of the whole experience came at the end, and probably my own pet peeves - taking the signed folio while we were still seated (lady, we tipped 20%, but can you please wait until we leave to check to make sure?) and that the only time we saw any of the wine staff was when the sommelier came to clear empty glasses as we were enjoying the lovely macaroons they gave as a parting taste. I guess if we're by-the-glass rubes we don't rate sommelier attention when you have patrons who need help figuring out which vintage Latour to order, but the combination of the two felt slightly off to me. Especially with a 2/3 full restaurant and no guests waiting at the host station - it's not like they needed to turn the table, yet they were behaving as if they did. Perhaps, like with the crammed-together 2 tops, this is just how things are in New York and I need to adjust my expectations away from a more leisurely and intimate experience... Anyhow, those were pretty small issues in the context of an overall wonderful meal. I'd love to go back and would highly recommend it, especially for wine lovers.

As it turned out, I went to 11 Madison Park and had a very good time. Food was good - not great, good (seared foie, wild mushroom pizzette) but the wine was outstanding and the wine bar was a very comfortable environment. As it turned out, the next couple folks over included someone with whom I had shared acquaintances from business school. Someone earlier had mentioned the idea that one shouldn't feel guilty or strange for dining alone... I agree in principle, but in practice it's been a harder barrier to get through. Normally, dining is a social event for me, so the risk of it being quiet and solitary feels strange - compounded by the possibility of odd looks and poor service in environments where single dining isn't as welcome. Maybe a large part of that is my own idiosyncracy, which if it is - que sera, sera. But, regardless, I do feel that this isn't a case of the theoretical world being exactly aligned with the actual world. Thanks again to everyone for the thoughtful advice, and I hope this thread might be helpful to others going forward.

Thank you everyone for your thoughtful responses! I am staying on the upper east side, but location isn't really an issue... and I'm going downtown towards Union Square to meet friends for drinks later. Lots of great suggestions here, I'm honing in on some options, but please keep the recommendations coming!

I'm in Manhattan for business and am looking for an alternative to room service... where would you go to dine alone, without a reservation, and feel comfortable? Basically I'm looking for a spot where I'm not going to feel like the weird one at a table by myself. Something notable and memorable food-wise - cost is not particularly an issue - but of course since we're talking about tonight, reservations would be a problem. Any suggestions? Craftbar? Gramercy Tavern front room? Grey's Papaya?

I have the KA 600 and got the ice cream attachment as my "free" attachment with the purchase offer another member posted about above. I've used it a couple times. I like it; as someone else mentioned, it does save space versus a standalone ice cream maker. The bowl is larger than most. I found when I made "standard" size recipes that the ice cream didn't reach the middle blade of the paddle, which seemed odd; but the result was plenty fine. Also the paddle (dasher?) doesn't do a great job of getting close to the sides of the bowl, so it takes some effort to get all the product out of the bowl when it's time. All in all I like it; not sure I would have chosen it if it weren't "free", but hey...

Boy, what a resource! Thanks so much for all the information and perspective - and pictures too. I will definitely check out the Yahoo brick oven group as a further resource. Jackal, McDuff, can you give me a sense of how long it takes to fire the oven? Given that you would be baking bread at a lower temp, do you proceed differently for prepping for pizza versus bread? Would seem to me that the thing to do would be to fire it up real hot, make some pizza, let it cool, then bake off your bread. Is that a 4 hour cycle or a 9 hour cycle? Thanks again! Red.