NancyH

There's no reason why you shouldn't be able to continue cooking it, especially if it was braised before and you're going to braise some more. My mom always made her brisket that way - cooked half way, cooled, then sliced, then cooked the rest of the way. It's always better the next day!

Updated: Attending all or part of weekend: NancyH +1 Ronnie Suburban +2 Edsel Tino27 torakris Kerry Beal Chris Hennes +1 (1 veg) rooftop1000 +1 David Ross Boagman RockNRoller Chris Amirault Connie Hayashi +1 (1 veg) Kasw (Karen) +1 Dave the Cook JAZ toolprincess 24 Maybe: Fat Guy prasantrin +1 CaliPoutine Jeff Meeker LuckyGirl +1 technophile50 heidih 9

Updated: Attending all or part of weekend: NancyH +1 Ronnie Suburban +2 Edsel Tino27 torakris Kerry Beal Chris Hennes +1 (1 veg) rooftop1000 +1 David Ross Boagman RockNRoller Chris Amirault Connie Hayashi +1 (1 veg) Kasw (Karen) +1 Dave the Cook JAZ toolprincess 24 Maybe: Fat Guy prasantrin +1 CaliPoutine Jeff Meeker LuckyGirl +1 7

Jeff - the Marriott isn't on the airport, but I imagine that given their name they provide free transport, as they are very near. Chef Ellis is due back from vacation this week, so I can launch negotiations for a meal and room rate with the hotel. His food is fantastic, and in summer, will use the bounty of the garden he grows on the hotel premises.

AMP 150 is indeed located in the Airport Marriott. Sounds amazing that this would be an actual foodist destination, but trust me, it is. Once I have a sense of numbers, I will try to work out a discount room rate with both Marriott and the Holiday Inn next door. Since I don't know where Saturday will be yet, it's hard to recommend lodgings, since most folks want to be close to that. Stay tuned!

Updated: Attending all or part of weekend: NancyH +1 Ronnie Suburban +2 Edsel Tino27 torakris Kerry Beal Chris Hennes +1 (1 veg) rooftop1000 +1 David Ross Boagman RockNRoller Chris Amirault Connie Hayashi +1 (1 veg) Kasw (Karen) +1 toolprincess 22 Maybe: Fat Guy prasantrin +1 CaliPoutine Jeff Meeker 5 Any thoughts on the itinerary I proposed in my last post?

Here is the tentative schedule I'm working up: Thursday Lunch: Sterle's Slovenian Country House Thursday Dinner: Tremont! Pizza and Apps at Lolita followed by 2 or 3 courses at Dante across the street. Maybe after dinner cocktails at Fahrenheit or the VTR (for those who just can't wait for tomorrow). Hopefully, a nice night to walk around and experience Tremont. Friday Lunch: Crop - Chef Steve Schimoler is the mad food scientist of Cleveland and his food must not be missed. I'm thinking of 11am, so we have a good amount of time for the afternoon activities (and noshing) before Happy Hour/Dinner. The restaurant should be relocated to Ohio City by the time this event happens. Friday afternoon: Polish Boy sampling and/or visit to The Sausage Shop. Friday Happy Hour: Velvet Tango Room Friday Dinner: The Greenhouse Tavern Saturday shopping: West Side Market and a local farmers' market Saturday Lunch: Near or in the markets - so many choices! Bread Making workshop at times Saturday to be determined by the host, locations tbd. Saturday Dinner: The FEAST (location tbd) Sunday first meal: Brunch at AMP 150 Sunday dinner - only if enough interest - I've got lots of ideas! Is there interest in a food photography workshop if I can locate a suitable teacher? Where might that fit in time-wise? Comments? Questions?

Updated: NancyH +1 Ronnie Suburban +2 Edsel Tino27 torakris Kerry Beal Chris Hennes +1 (1 veg) rooftop1000 +1 Jeff Meeker David Ross Boagman RockNRoller Chris Amirault Connie Hayashi +1 (1 veg) toolprincess 21 Maybe: Fat Guy prasantrin +1 CaliPoutine 4

Updated: NancyH +1 Ronnie Suburban +2 Edsel Tino27 torakris Kerry Beal Chris Hennes rooftop1000 +1 Jeff Meeker David Ross Boagman RockNRoller Chris Amirault toolprincess 18 Maybe: Fat Guy prasantrin +1 CaliPoutine 4

Ok, time to start the headcount. This is what I have so far - please chime in to add companions, or your name to the list! Definite for part or all: NancyH +1 Ronnie Suburban +2 Edsel Tino27 torakris Kerry Beal Chris Hennes rooftop1000 +1 Jeff Meeker David Ross Boagman RockNRoller toolprincess 17 Maybe: Fat Guy prasantrin +1 CaliPoutine 4

I could ask Matt Harlan about doing a pig roast for us at Lolita - but I really think that having Friday dinner at Greenhouse Tavern would get our pig on in just a little better way. I'm going to ask Chef Sawyer to do a tasting menu, with his Roasted Pig Head as the featured item. Greenhouse's food is a little bolder than Lolita's (Pig Head, beef tartar, clams with foie gras sauce, the ever-changing "5th quarter", which was pig tongue the last we were there). Chef Sawyer (who's been on a number of Iron Chef episodes as Michael's sous, as well as Dinner Impossible when Mike was hosting it) has been getting a lot of well deserved national attention and GHT is a real food enthusiast's place. If we have Pig Face at GHT, would people also want a separate pig roast meal in the same weekend?

Can I get a sense of whether people will be in Cleveland for dinner on Sunday? We must have a meal at Crop, and if folks can't stay for Sunday Dinner, I'm thinking Friday or Saturday lunch.

I'm roughing out the restaurant schedule - any thoughts on other types of activities for Thursday and Friday between lunch and dinner, and/or Friday morning? I'm thinking a Polish Boy tasting crawl and visit to The Sausage Shop on Friday. If we tour Polish Boys, we could also build in time to shop at Dean Supply, a fabulous restaurant supply store that hosts the Seti's Polish Boy truck. Tom - would you be willing to do a bread workshop, and when?

Hi Princess - there are no pre-requisites (unless we set up advance pay for some of the events). We'll post a schedule of events (and cost) and ask for advance headcounts. Some events will be pay at the door or pay as you go. And some will probably be pay in advance. And some won't cost anything at all - just bring yourself! Looking forward to meeting you.

How are the dates August 4-7 for everyone?

Mazel Tov Marmish! We'll miss you!

Unfortunately, fresh fish and seafood are hard to come by in Cleveland.

Of course, we could do a progressive dinner crawl in Tremont Thursday night - Dante, Lolita, Parallax, Fahrenheit, Ty Fun, Bac - and I'm sure I'm missing someone in this list!

I'm leaning towards Greenhouse Tavern for Friday dinner -I can talk to Chef Sawyer about doing a tasting dinner for us featuring his most food forward dishes such as the pig's face and beef tartar. Happy Hour at VTR before dinner. Do we have a consensus as to which Michael Symon option is more appealing: Lolita or B Spot? Lolita is only open for dinner, B Spot lunch and dinner. Do people think they would stay in Cleveland long enough to do Sunday Supper at Crop? It is an amazing culinary value - one of the best in C Town or anywhere. And Chef Steve Schimoler is the mad scientist of Cleveland Chefs. He won the Great Food Show cook-off among himself, Jon Sawyer and Dante. Dante for Thursday night? If you saw my blog post of our New Year's Eve dinner there, you have a good idea of why I think it is immensely worthy of a visit. AMP 150 for either Thursday lunch or Sunday brunch? Marriott actually allows Chef Ellis Cooley to garden on its premises, and the results are simply wonderful! Tell me what you think? Too many places, not enough time!

Shame on me for not suggesting VTR! It will be included. Last time we did it here, it was the end of July and some thought produce was still pre-peek, so I'm leaning to the August dates if that works for folks. @Ronnie - as far are Rene's tips go - last time we shopped only at West Side Market and some were (rightfully) not pleased by produce; I'm thinking simultaneous excursions to WSM and a farmer's market if folks prefer that for produce. But I personally think WSM is a culinary treasure not to be missed. For a short weekend- honestly, none of the Jewish Deli/Corned beef places are worthy of displacing other food choices. Would folks be interested in visiting an old world sausage/charcuterie shop? We have several that are EG worthy and I'm sure that could be arranged. Perhaps the one Tony Bourdain visited when he was here - when the owners retire or pass, it will be gone, as it has been out-zoned with no grandfathering possible. Farkas Pastry is most excellent and there are others that are EG worthy if we want to work such a stop into the weekend. The Polish Boy concept is intriguing - I will work on that (maybe a tour of several places?) Sterle's Slovenian is actually a great place - that might be a great choice for an "ethnic" meal if we choose one, and give a break from the Asian choices. Jeepers, I'm getting hungry!

prasantrin - the predisposition towards Chinese started in Cleveland with Fat Guy - he staged with Annie at Sun Luck Garden and really wanted to have a meal there last time. The fact is, Cleveland has more outstanding Asian restaurants than it does Mexican or Middle Eastern - but if others also want this, we can certainly look for it. Momocho is fabulous Nuevo Latino, but isn't open for lunch, or great for large groups and the main dining room(and both of the restrooms) aren't handicapped accessible. Maha's new restaurant might be a great choice for Middle Eastern, but I haven't been there yet (her falafel stand at the West Side Market is my favorite falafel in the world - sorry Mamouns). Mallorca isn't worth a special trip - large quantities of decent, but not exceptional food. Food service seafood. I also forgot to include in my "must" list, above: The Greenhouse Tavern. We won't be able to nail down a date until we hear from torakris; I believe she is en route to Japan today.

I hope we're agreed on Cleveland, because I'm actively looking for a kitchen for Saturday's feast! I am running down a few leads. Does anyone want to pitch out which restaurants they really, really want to visit? I've got a list that is way too long for the amount of time we'll have, so I'd like some feedback to help narrow it down. In my opinion, "can't miss" options include Restaurant Dante, Crop, AMP 150, and a Michael Symon restaurant (perhaps Lolita, since we went to Lola the last time). And perhaps a Zack Bruell restaurant (there are 4: Parallax, Chinato, L'Albatros and Table 45). Restaurants that we visited last time but which remain worthy are Sun Luck Garden (though I'd love to get Wonton Gourmet or Superior Pho on the EG radar, and Dim and Den Sum may be open by then), Light Bistro, and Lola. AMP 150 is located in a Marriott, and I'm talking to them about doing a deal - there is also a decent Holiday Inn right next door to it that I have a relationship with.

We are thinking of flying in to visit with my parents in Delray Beach, then driving up to Destin, and flying home from there. I know it's an 8-9 hour drive from Delray to Destin - so I'm looking for recommendations for stops where we can play with some great food along the way! Please help!

Consider a butane burner from Iwatani. They go up to 15,000 BTU - almost as much as a regular home stove. Perfectly safe and appropriate for indoor use.

Willspear - the instructors in both of my food safety courses pointed out that the bugs have evolved a lot since our grandparents' day. I forgot the exact numbers, but it used to take several thousand Sallmonella bugs to make you sick - now only a few can cause severe food poisoning (and I think they generate toxins much faster than their ancestors did also). Same with E. Coli and many of the others; Listeria and Camphylobacter were virtually unknown back then.