Carrot Top

While I can 'see' and intellectually understand these extended urban area demographics...honestly I can not 'feel' them. Yes, they are in proximity to cities, yes the people have money to spend and are professionals...BUT...the areas that have the urban hip 'feel' do move and grow, but they tend to do it within city limits or close enough to be sort of cuddling up to the city. Hip urban areas grow, change, move...entire neighborhoods are created that are defined as hip and urban where other parts of cities just...are not. They are other things, but they do not have that 'edge'. My take on it is that that edge is created by proximity to culture. To art, and I mean the Art World. To money, and I mean Big Bucks. To Fashion and Design...of the Haute variety. That 'hip urban' feel is created by people who are living creative lives and pushing the limits of what has been presently 'acceptable' to date. People are drawn to 'hip urban' from all over...because it is not the way they live their lives in general. People will pay to be around the creativity and the unconventionality. History tells this. They will come to be entertained, to see a living 'story' that is beyond the sort of life they might dare to live themselves. It's gotta be 'punchy' and in-your-face to be 'hip urban', really.

This is an interesting comment, as arts do tend to draw from each other and grow. Can you give some examples of specific areas that are good examples of the 'New Urbanism'? Are there any major names of architects/designers that create solely within this paradigm? (And if so, are any of them associated with 'name' restaurants?) What is coming to my mind at the moment in terms of this is that place they built right outside Miami...naturally right now I can not remember the name of it...the copycat 'New York'. Would this place be considered New Urban or simply still a mall of sorts... Just curious.

As a side issue I'd like to mention that the Chianina breed does exist here in the US but from the little I know, is generally mixed with other breeds to produce a product that is more likely to be to American tastes. There is an organic farmer near me who does this...and there is also an experimental state-run farm over the border in West Virginia which is doing tests on both Chianina and Charolais.

My reference is 'Northern Italian Cooking" by Francesco Ghedini. Out of print now but a great book if you ever see it somewhere... No, he does not mention the rosemary or Parmesan but does mention the lemon. I am not sure in describing the cut of meat if he was as verbose, and with such a catchy phrase! as in the previous threads, but the cut was the same and this new phrase is quite pithy...so we can all picture exactly what is meant here....

In agreement with everyone above but would like to add that the famous quality of Florentine steak is that it comes from Chiannina steers...which are grass-fed cattle. If you can somehow obtain grass-fed beef, you will be closer to the actuality...the only other thing I've seen is that often it is advised to squeeze a lemon over it at the end. So let's see...if you can purchase a farm, grow some grass fed cattle, butcher them correctly, install a wood-burning grill, all before this weekend...hey! You're all set...

You had asked what areas we all live in...I've lived in big and small cities, big and small suburbs, and totally rural areas. This is a fun thread to read. To go to the side of the topic again (sorry)...it is likely you are already doing what I'm about to mention...but in this process of menu development be sure to document everything. It can be a simple re-stating of what you believe your client's directions were...but it is useful. Not only for billing purposes but also...if there is a partnership involved in making menu decisions there can be unspoken or unrealized differences in goals or ideas. If the direction given by the 'point person' is clariifed on paper, any differences can be noted and hopefully sorted out. Edited due to earlier exhaustion...tomorrow is first day of school for kids here!

Mmm...yes, I see a difference. But of course there are exceptions to every rule. One might find a suburb somewhere that exhibited more 'city-like' aspects than certain cities, somewhere. If I were you, I would attempt to more clearly define what this person (I am assuming they are your client or potential client) means when they say 'hip urban feel' and 'suburban'. Ask for specific examples of urban areas they particularly like and suburban areas that they think do not have the aspects they are interested in, then study these areas to get a better feel for what the ultimate goal is. You might want to go so far as to ask which actual existing restaurants hold the qualities they are seeking...but if you open this door, be ready to be besieged with a list that you will learn a great deal from, but which ultimately you may be asked to almost-copycat from. A fine line to cross or not, here...

Must put my two cents in and say I agree. If it is adversarial, there is something wrong with the picture. One hand washes the other, so to speak...(and I am not talking under the table stuff here, just business as usual)...and there are reasons that vendor prices fluctuate...reasons that the vendors have to work with in order to make their profit and reasons that restauranteurs would be well advised to avail themselves of understanding in the area. Although a very tough business, this is still a business filled mostly with honest people who want to provide good service and maintain a good reputation.

I read something on this in a food history book sometime in the past...and it said that it is just one of those cultural phenomenas that occur when a group of immigrants to a country is learning the language. When the huge influx of Italians came to America around the turn of the century, the word 'gravy' started being used by them to descibe their tomato sauce, (which resembles 'our' gravy in that it is ladled over pastas and meats as we ladle ours over potatoes and meats...) to the other people in the neighborhood who did not understand what they were talking about. Slang, an adopted word, pure and simple. And as for tomato sauces...gee, I can not remember EVER having had a bad one! Can you?!

:laugh I love that last line... As James Thurber wrote: Looks can be deceiving-it's eating that's believing.

That sounds like the way I heard they serve hamburgers at McDonalds in the south-west of France...topped with a sliver of foie gras.... Sigh.... This however sounds like the stuff of urban legend, but who knows. Could be...but I seem to remember the source I heard it from being relatively reliable... Just tried to check by going to McDonalds.fr online and though it was highly entertaining, there was no info on this nor any e-mail address to contact. Might be like some of the McDonald's in Maine, where they serve lobster rolls, but the corporate website does not offer that detail. Hmm. Guess someone needs to go find out!

To my (ex) Italian MIL and many other natives of Italy I've known, 'gravy' means ragu (they also say something that sounds like ooraoo which means the same thing) which of course is any variety of a tomato sauce. 'Cream Gravy' has no roux or thickener...it is just cream poured into the pan to deglaze the drippings of a sauteed pork chop or slice of ham...and it is heaven itself....

That sounds like the way I heard they serve hamburgers at McDonalds in the south-west of France...topped with a sliver of foie gras.... Sigh....

I think braunsweiger is smoked liverwurst... ...and as for my contribution to the thread of 'how to eat it', I had an Armenian boyfriend once who made great sandwiches with thick sliced black bread, braunsweiger, and thinly sliced cucumbers. The crispness of the cukes against the buttery-ness of the braunsweiger with the slight bitterness of the bread was marvelous. Or at least I believe it was...I hope it was not really the effect of all that good beer that had to be consumed along with it...

There is a wonderful story by MFK Fisher called 'Fifty Million Snails' in the book Serve it Forth (also in the collection The Art of Eating). Unforgettable...

Scanning too quickly, first I read your post then mixed it up with another one following soon after, which said 'Good as sushi' and something about hot peppers...

Very nice posting/article and comment afterwards...I have to admit, all my usual notions about 'How to Tip Correctly and Why' go right out the door when faced with a celebrity at table. Seems to me they have a responsibility to overtip, overtip like mad, regardless of the service they receive...not only because they have the money but because it would make our world so much richer with good stories.... I love the idea of hundred dollar bills being left on the table, yeah!

Mm hmm. There are cheesecake recipes that use farmers cheese, ricotta, sour cream, mascarpone, cottage cheese (they use this a lot in low fat recipes) and even tofu for the cheese-challenged.... I've seen recipes for savory 'cheesecakes' that included blue cheeses, triple creams like St. Andre, mascarpone, etc. with walnuts or pistachios or occasionally something like asparagus, sometimes with a crust, sometimes not, but usually I think of these as 'Tortas' or 'Tortes' rather than a cheesecake....

There are so many people interested in going into foodservice ventures in these times that many health departments have tightened up their codes. Unless you live in an unpopulated or rural area, it is not likely that you will find a commercial kitchen that co-rents or shares (though I am not saying it is impossible, just not very common), and the inspectors have taken to tightening up physical space requirements and rules on kitchens in churches and such, also. It can be done 'under the table' sometimes if you have connections but of course then you are taking a risk with your future reputation if you happen to get found out... It is unhappy that these codes are being written so much more stringently that many people can not enter into a small business that in previous years would have had a chance...but at the same time, food handling and sanitation are very important things to have good controls over. If we don't, people get food-borne illnesses. If it finally comes to the point where you want to take the jump but not a jump as big as opening a full service bakery the thing I've seen work best for people is just to retro-fit their own kitchen or expand into another area of their home, building to code. Expensive, yes. Hopefully the money will be made back eventually.... You've just gotta love this thing, to do it....and yes, good luck to you all!

Other than working for other people (which is a great idea because that is really learning the actuality and reality of the thing) the only thing I can think of is being a Personal Chef perhaps specializing in baked goods. Not sure how it would fly though...if you read many of the threads in this forum you will note that the field is squeezed and competitive already, due to low-cost production baked goods being so widely available. Abra has written a food blog on a week in her life as a personal chef...it is posted in one of the cooking forums.

Here's a question...all summer long I have wanted to make some coffee granite (which if the coffee houses sold I would buy in bulk!). I can never find the time to focus on it because of the timing that is needed...the watching and chopping up of the coffee-in-freezing-process at 'just the right time'...because my children are running through the house with their friends and my thoughts get scattered. I wonder if it would work 'in reverse' so to speak. If you had these already-sweetened frozen coffee cubes, if just allowing them to sit at room temp for five or ten minutes, then processing them quickly in a blender...if that would create something that would be close to the texture of a granite. Anyone ever tried it?

My personal favorite is a soufleed lime cheesecake....

Fantastic idea, that ice cube shot thing...don't know why I never thought of it...but it is one of those simple pure details that can really make something great. Thanks...

...what, specifically, was the food? I'm curious....

What was the best meal you've ever had in your entire life? (Yes, very hard to answer, I know, but certainly fun to think about... ) What was it that made it the best meal...the food, the company, the ambiance, the timing, anything else...?