I_call_the_duck

I read that New York passed such a law a couple of years ago. I haven't heard anything about it since, so whether restaurants encourage this practice or if customers even know about it is another question. edited to add: oops. Sneakeater beat me to it.

That is the prettiest lobak goh I've ever seen.

If you want to be really cruel, you can present the wine in this contraption. My sister gave one to us for Christmas the year before last. Luckily, there's a relatively inexpensive bottle of wine trapped inside (and not a favorite of ours), because it's still stuck in there. She did give us the solution, but we haven't been desparate enough yet to peek.

Happy dancer here. To be fair, they're different types of chocolate so it's not that easy to make a good comparison. Like philadining said, John & Kira's had a creamy texture with suble flavors, while the Eclat chocolates were more intense with a variety of textures. I loved both chocolates, but preferred Eclat over John & Kira--but not much. As for Jacques Torres, I haven't had his chocolates, but I do have a friend who worked for Jacques when he was at Le Cirque. My friend sends us a box of chocolates every Christmas, and I have to say they're pretty amazing. So in order to get the real thing, I just may have to plan a detour to Jacques' store this weekend. Once we buy them the trick will be to hide them from Mr. Duck.

My guess with the deal with bringing only the fried stuff out is to ensure some degree of freshness and hotness. The trouble with carts is that once they've made their rounds a couple of times, the fried stuff that hasn't been taken get cold and soggy. At Lakeside, I'm guessing that they fry (or reheat) a bunch of the fried stuff out when a new batch of people arrive. Everything else is probably sitting in the back on steamers or a big vat.

The thing about the carts is that you get to see what you're getting, whereas you gotta guess with the menu, so for the uninitiated, it'd be harder to decide what to order. It's also easier to pace oneself with carts. Then again, I usually get overexcited when I sit down, and order just about everything I see, and wind up with the same problem of having too much food on the table. As one who ate the shrimp dumplings, they were great. Some places use a lot of bamboo shoots or water chestnuts as a filler, which ain't good. The flavor and consistency of these was just right. mrbigjas: tell mrsbigjas that the thing you guys were looking at on the table next to you was called Rice Roll with Crispy Dough on the menu. It's just that--the cruller (that usuallly comes with your congee) wrapped around rice noodle, then topped with a soy-based sauce.

From what little I know, is Jing Fong really worth the trip? Now a NYC snack tour on the other hand, that'd be worthy of a bus trip. ← NO! If you're coming to NYC for dim sum, you gotta go to Flushing. Jin Fong is sub-par dim sum and Philly's got some awesome dim sum. Come to NYC, just don't bother with Jin Fong ← Gastro88, which place in Flushing do you recommend? I used to go to the now-defunct East Lake. eta: Never mind. I should probably just go check the NY dim sum site instead!

OK, my turn. That crunchy thing on the right that you're referring to Katie, is a deep fried taro puff with shrimp and pork. Really tasty, and the best I've ever had. The taro in most versions I've tasted is gluey and bland, but this one was light and fluffy. We're going to have to incorporate "Daniel bites" into these photos so you call all see what's inside. The chicken feet were tasty, but I think they could have been cooked just a wee bit longer. Yes, mrbigjas, I’m impressed. Everything there was great. Lakeside is the best dim sum I've had in a long time — and that includes NY.

Santa, I'd like to have that giant hole in my kitchen ceiling repaired. If that's not possible, just send money.

I am now.

Heads up. I saw a coupon on p10 in the Center City Weekly Press and University City Review (free weekly papers). 10% off anything at Iovine's (expires 12/31).

Um...spaghetti carbonara. The heat of the pasta cooks the eggs, creating this wonderfully creamy sauce.

I saw an ad for Abbraccio Restaurant (820 S. 47th St.) who will be serving the Feast "Five courses from Bacala to Boullaibase" on Christmas Eve only. (sorry, Katie) eta: Davio's menu looks great. The lobster and shrimp slider sounds so good.

And if you're looking to limit your indulgence, Karen, Genuardi's carries the 25 cent bags of various Utz snacks, including Grandma's chips...... Hmmm-- maybe they can come up with a Peking duck-flavored chip! ← Thanks, Janet, but I don't even know where the nearest Genuardi's is. It's a good thing that Rite-Aid only sells it in small bags, or I'd be in big trouble. Then again, what's keeping me from buying all those little bags? Peking duck-flavored chip. Pork AND duck!

Since this thread came out, I've been on a mission to find Grandma Utz. Found her at Rite-Aid. Wow! Much better than Herrs, which I had yesterday. Grandma is welcome in my house anytime.

In restaurants, my favorite was lobster with black bean sauce. My brother and I once were sopping the last bits of sauce with rice that — much to mom’s embarrassment — the waiter, thinking we were still hungry, took pity on us and brought us a bowl of soup. No actual licking though. Mom would have killed us for that. But at home, plate licking was the norm for us. My favorite were the dregs from egg foo young and string beans in fu yee sauce. Once again, my brother and I would fight over those last drops, until one of us would grab the plate and proceed to lick it, thus ensuring that the other would not get it, and also receiving a chiding from Mom. Sometimes, she’d actually laugh at our antics and ask “where’s that plate made?” Dad took it as a compliment though. "Good cook, good cook!" he used to say. Fast forward twenty or so years. I do everything short of licking the plate. Rice, bread, a spoon, I’ve even become quite adept at doing it with a fork. I’ve received comments from waitstaff ranging from “hmm…I see you’re a member of the clean plate club,” “I’ll tell the chef you didn’t like it.”, which I usually reply, “I’ll have the rest wrapped up to go,” or “there used to be a pattern on the plate.” In the StudioKitchen days, most, if not all of Shola’s sauces merited plate licking. And since I wasn’t the only one, I had no qualms about licking the plate. I’d almost forgotten about this thread until this past Thanksgiving. Mr. Duck’s cousin was trying to surreptitiously lick the last of the ice cream and cake from his plate. Until I caught him and started laughing.

you don't know about this? it's pennsylvania tradition, yo. hie thee to a wawa and pick up a little bag of grandma utz's. they aren't the best lard-fried chips, but they'll give you the idea. next time i go upstate i'll score you some gibble's and maybe some red-bag good's, which are my families' favorites. ← Save your trip to wawa, as that is nothing but Herrs territory, you ain't gonna find an Utz at all... ← Gee, so much to learn about this here state. I may have to do a chip comparison somewhere in the distant future. I've occasionally seen Utz at the Dollar Stores, specifically, the one on 16th and Chestnut.

The tables at Vetri were a little too close together for me to be considered romantic, as were the ones at La Famiglia. I think Deux Cheminees was the most romantic and seemed to me the most dressy. It was also my favorite meal of the three. The library is amazing too.

I dug up this article from the Inquirer from 1999. It's an interesting article, even if it is seven years old. It's about what the smaller companies must do to compete with Frito-Lay, which includes frying the chips in lard, creating new flavors, etc. But it also has some chip facts. Frying chips in lard? Mmmm...porky goodness...

Good tip. Sometimes the filling will be a little moist for various reasons: napa released too much water or starch slurry was not thick enough. The solution is to just dump the filling onto a colander right after it finishes cooking. ← I actually refrigerate the filling prior to wrapping the spring rolls. I do have to be careful about not making it too wet, but I love how it turns out.

DiBruno's was sampling smoked salmon last weekend, one of which was either hot smoked or kippered. It was indeed tasty. I also saw kippered salmon today at Famous Fourth Street Deli.

This weekend I made the World's Best Cabbage. I wouldn't go as far as calling it the best, but it was certainly very good.

Aww, thanks for thinking of me, Percy. Those photos are amazing. Everything looked great…well, maybe not those hot dogs. Regarding the Rudolph, er, reindeer comment, I’m beginning to suspect that my sister did have reindeer meat when she was in Sweden, but called it “beef” so as not to freak out her kids. Man do I miss Paris--especially the pastries and breads.

We went on Friday. I saw butternut, pumpkin, sweet potato, and another squash whose name escapes me. The place was packed so I didn't get to peruse all the flavors. We shared a pumpkin praline and bourbon butterscotch. Great combination!

Pork belly creme brulee? Elaborate please.