Sethro

I'm in NYC so a retail outlet won't be much help, but I'll check the website for shipping prices. Thank both of you very much!

Do you know offhand if they have a website?

chefrubber, l'epicerie and parisgourmet are all no-go's. Where can I get it? Also, has anyone tried the new chefrubber "Foam Stabilizer"? I wonder if it's comparable to versa whip.

My friend Derrick is doing some really awesome stuff at Spice Market (albeit completely under the radar). I always liked the style of aquavit's desserts too.

I guess that means we should rate Peter Luger based on the salmon, and Le Bernardin by the strip steak. ← Well, if your philosophy is to have "something for everyone" on the menu, then your menu is going to have alot of sub-par dishes. I didn't know there was a lousy strip steak at Le Bernadin...that seems like a bad decision. As for Luger and Grand Sichuan, these are not restaurants that are going to be made or broken by a review. They are a seperate entity. They thrive on word of mouth and local traffic, not trends-spotters and scenesters. For restaurants that are very much designed to be proppeled and sustained by PR, having ANY suspect dshes ony the menu is a big mistake. When Bruni goes into a Le Bernadin he WILL order the strip steak, and then tear it to shreds. That's fair game. What is the trade off between making an extra couple thousand a year off of dumbed-down dishes for picky/boring eaters, uninspired sides and mediocre desserts when you lose your target audience to bad reviews?

It was micro cinammon basil.

Ha!

If that's what rat poop tastes like, then I love rat poop. Hopefully they get it in order soon. I was actually planning on taking out this Sunday.

It's a good idealistic statement but meaningless in the real world. ← Alot of times chefs are pushed to expand menus past their capacity to manage the quality of everything entailed. Alot of restauranteurs favor the more-is-more approach. Especially when it comes to stacking to menu with high-return items such a aps, tapas, small desserts and the like.

Its a shame that so many of New York's impressive smaller restaurants choose to forgo pastry chef in light of space and budget constraints. In these cases a cheese program alone might be a better idea. Unfortunately, I'm sure there is usually a owner or partner in the Chef's ear with "you can whip up something simple like an apple tart, right?". A restaurant is only as good as its worst dish.

That sounds super-great!

I think this recipe applies to fondants or molten chocolate cakes without a seperate ganache or couveture center. Yolks can provice structure on their own, but with equal whites they are also going to provide lift. That lift would meke the molten center somewhat spongey/airy in texture, which would be less good. The recipe's that result suflee-like are better for fondants with a seprate ganache/couveture center because, well because they are just better* cakes and the center will not incorporate any lift through baking regardless. *better being subjective of course. more of a textural contrast between cake and center.

That layering isn't going to work out well. You can't really bake a curd unless you have a ton of cornstarch in it, and I'm asuming you'll want to bake the cheesecake layer. Unless it's a no bake cheesecake, but the cure would still squish out under the weight unless you cut it while frozen I guess. I would just recomend a thin layer of curd on top. ← *pouts* Oh well. At least someone told me before I found out the hard way. Thanks Sethro! Hmm... But Lemon Curd does freeze okay, right? I think K8 talked about freezing the stuff? So I could bake cheesecake (without a base) on a sheetpan, and layer it. ← When I used to do this I would par-bake the crust (not always necesary depending on the type), bake the cheesecake right onto that, let it cool and then spread the still warm curd over top. Freeze and cut.

That layering isn't going to work out well. You can't really bake a curd unless you have a ton of cornstarch in it, and I'm asuming you'll want to bake the cheesecake layer. Unless it's a no bake cheesecake, but the cure would still squish out under the weight unless you cut it while frozen I guess. I would just recomend a thin layer of curd on top.

Well I will buck the trend and stick around regardless!

Yeah, but a blog is subject to a much higher circulation than say, a newsletter printed in your basement. Prior to the internet, anyone who wished to publish their thoughts would have to seek a publication that would be willing to stake their reputation alongside that of the author. This would of course narrow down the field of published authors to those who were qualified in their topic area. My point is that the advent of the blog has generated a massive nubmber of published food and restaurant critics, and the uninformed reader might have trouble distinguishing those who speak from intelligence from those those who don't. I wouldn't squelch your first amendment rights, or restrict anyone from food-blogging--like I said I am a fan in general. Though as a member of this forum, I tend to reply to statements I find untrue or unfair, if for no other reason that to disassociate myself from them. This is why most chefs won't post on a forum, even to defend themselves and their work (which is probably very smart from a PR stand-point).

They don't include stabilizers, freeze depressers and the likes in recipes for home cooks. Not sure if they use any gums or dextrose or anything in the Babbo, maybe they turn over quick enough that crystals aren't an issue. Regardless, 3g:Quart of Stabilizer never hurts.

Good lord, chefs like Sam Mason are "taking short cuts"? I tell you what's prety quick an easy: fabricating a protein, cooking it, and serving it with a pureed starch and mother sauce. That's as old gaurd as it gets. To take new direction and incorporate unprecidented new technique requires extensive forethought, testing, patience, knowledge and skill. It is NOT easy, quick or any other adjective that defines "short cut". I won't get into the specifics of "portioning proteins into bags" or other ridiculous misconceptions. Instead I'll sugest anyone who truly wants to gleam an understanding of what it takes to run a sucessful kitchen--traditional to avante garde--either try working in one or speaking with a chef about it. I love food-blogging, but blogs in general are a license to publish your words for public consumption without any any qualification, oversight or scrutiny. Take that as you will.

Seriously, everyone needs to go to 40 Carrots @ Bloomingdales at least once. Their frozen yogurt sundaes are one of NYC's true hidden gems. Maybe even "best of" thread worthy.

Hmm I'm pretty sure it was very quiet, subdued jazzy stuff when I was there. My point is that the atmosphere felt at odds with the fare. As for the differences in plating style: Establishing an identity is crucial to a restraunt's sucess, and disparities like that make for a vague identity. I'm sure it doesn't conciously bother everyone, but it does effect the experience on some level. It's not something that detracts from my enjoment of the food (and I do really enjoy the foodl), but being party to a few failed restaurants myself, I can't help but notice potential pitfalls. I hope Varietal is very sucessful regardless.

I love the product and I don't think the price point is unreasonable. Its the closest thing to my childhood favorite: the forzen yogurt sundaes at 40 Carrots at Bloomingdales. Just plain, thick, sour frozen yogurt with honey and wheat germ. Unbeatable.

I agree about the price point. I would also group the vibe of the room into the same category. The menus are kind of fun and free flowing, but the room and the service felt overly serious to me. I think at a slightly lower price point, slightly more upbeat music and servers, and the experience would be more congruent with the food. As for the food itslef, my one major criticism would be the jarring transition between the savory and the dessert. The plates look like they're from entiely different planets. My philosophy is that exec chef and pastry chef should compromise (or even better cross-polinate) their styles to create a clear identity. Personally I thought the desserts overshadowed the savory menu, which doesn't mean they were better, just very unique. If chef Witt doesn't work in that asthetic, it might have been better for J Kahn to find more of a common ground. He could always do his more personal stuff later down the road, when he has a project built around his vision alone (which seems inevitable).

I've NEVER seen Bruni write more than three sentences concerning dessert. Usually its exactly three sentences: the first sentence names the pastry chef and sums up his or her talent level and appropriateness to the restaurant, the second mentions in vague detail a dish that was delicious, and the third cites another which was unsucessful. It would be interesting to see if he gives more consideration to the desserts at Varietal, knowing that they have garnered more buzz than the savory menu and the wine list collectively.

There's no need fo any of that. A properly cooked creme brulee ought to be able to hold a shape at higher than fridge temp. Obviously it'll need to be frozen and cut/unmolded, then and set in a shell or on a base so you never have to handle it once its thawed.

There was a brown sugar cake with liquid caramel center at craft a few years back.