dagordon

BTW, if you do spring for this, you want to get it hand sliced. (I had to convince the Di Bruno's guy to do this for me, and he ended up doing a better job than the guy at Dean and Deluca).

Here's a link to a NY Times review of the place, in case that helps. Yup, they sold the restaurant in NY because (at least in part) Shuji needed back surgery, I think.

Oy. I deserve some kind of humanitarian award for my heroic efforts this afternoon trying to convince Di Bruno's in the Italian market that they do not, in fact, have iberico bellota ham. I called the Italian market location this afternoon and was told that they had bellota. I expressed my skepticism, and was assured that they had it. So I hopped in my car and drove over. When I arrived I met the guy I had spoken with over the phone. I asked if they could show me the packaging for the ham, which would say 'bellota' on it if it was, in fact, bellota. They said that they were down to their last ham and had thrown out the packaging. I have a PDA phone that has a web browser on it. I looked up La Tienda's phone number (they were instrumental in bringing iberico to the US and would know if anyone here had it). I spoke to a very nice woman who assured me that nobody in the US had iberico bellota ham. I told the Di Bruno's people this and they insisted that Tienda was mistaken -- they said that they got several of only 30 bellota hams imported into the US. I told them that if they could prove to me that they had bellota, I would buy the entirety of the rest of their ham. They started making phone calls to the other Di Bruno's and to other Di Bruno's people... they were told by several people that it was, in fact, bellota. I should say that the Di Bruno's people were growing increasingly hostile. They were convinced that I was wrong, and they seemed to have no interest in offering solid proof as to what product they had. I then looked up Fermin USA on my phone, the sole importer of the only iberico product able to be imported into the US. They said that there was no possibility that anyone in the US had iberico bellota ham. I told the Di Bruno's people this. They were unconvinced. At this point they were pretty much sick of dealing with me. One employee said, 'If you don't want the ham, then don't buy it', basically suggesting that I get lost. I left, and called Fermin USA again from my car. I spoke to a woman who had fulfilled Di Bruno's orders, and she confirmed that it wasn't bellota. Several minutes later I got a call from Scott Case at the Rittenhouse Di Bruno's confirming that they do not, in fact, have bellota, and that the 9th St location was mistaken. This was an unfortunate experience. It goes without saying that Di Bruno's should know their product better (especially when it's selling for $100/lb). And they should also be open to the possibility that they're wrong when there's evidence mounting that they are. Incidentally, I later bought some iberico ham from the Rittenhouse location, and the label says 'acorn fed'. Anyone want to conduct a little test and call up the 9th St location and ask if they have bellota ham? I realize now that I should have said to the Di Bruno's people, if you're wrong, and it's not what you say it is, I get it for free.

The point is that only one producer, Embutidos y Jamones Fermín, is approved by the US to import iberico products of any kind. All of the iberico is Fermin.

It's not the bellota. It's just not available in the U.S. yet. The bellota is cured for up to 36 months, as opposed to 24 for the regular stuff. Like D&D, they must just be confused. The regular iberico still has a distinctive nuttiness. I'll call Di Bruno's tomorrow and sort this out...

Shuji and Michiko Fujita until a couple of years ago had a great restaurant on the Upper East Side in Manhattan, Donguri. I know that they've moved back to Japan and have a restaurant somewhere in the country that AFAIK is also called 'Donguri'. I'm trying to locate Donguri in Japan -- I know this is a longshot, but does anyone have any ideas? Thanks.

We had a marbling score 12 (out of 12) Japanese Wagyu steak from Main Line Prime as an appetizer before NYE festivities last night (which was the perfect way to enjoy it, as it's so rich that you can't have more than a few bites). CSV for 1 hour at 50 C, then given a quick sear. Outrageously good.

The only reason I haven't preordered a whole Iberico bellota ham from Tienda is that there's no evidence so far that the Fermin product comes anywhere close to the best Iberico bellota, say Joselito or Sanchez Romero Carvajal 5J. If D&D's product truly is the bellota, then it's starting to look like I made the right choice. There's simply no way that anyone with all of his faculties fully-functioning could find a high-quality bellota ham to leave a 'rancid greasiness'.

We got a fresh Meadow Run Farm turkey for Thanksgiving, a monster 21lb bird. This was the best turkey we've ever had -- even better than the Rosengarten butter and duck fat and pancetta injected Eberly turkeys we got the past 2 years. The dark meat had the most intense flavor of any turkey I've ever had; I suppose this is what turkey is supposed to taste like.

Stopped by this afternoon. A nice looking store. The non-Wagyu beef wasn't really speaking to me; it appeared to be a low grade of Prime, and the dry-aged steaks had some rotting around the edges that should have been trimmed off. The beef is apparently aged 30-35 days. The Wagyu looked spectacular, I was told it was grade 12 (the highest in terms of marbling). $200/lb. Though I was also told that they're the only place in America where you can get Japanese Kobe beef, and there's even a sign stating this in the store. Not only is there no Kobe at all available in the US, as I've said, but by no stretch of the imagination are they the only place in the US to get Japanese Wagyu. So this is a little distressing.

Well this is pretty exciting, I'm checking this out tomorrow. Although there is no Kobe beef (legally) available in the US. There’s actually no Kobe beef (legally) available in the US right now. (There are only four slaughter plants in all of Japan licensed to process the wagyu beef that is imported here: one in Miyazaki, one in Gunma, and two in Kagoshima. None in Kobe.) On the other hand, Kobe is not the most respected designation anyway…

I think I spotted David Katz in the kitchen too...

it's a duck's head silly! hey dagordon, how was the meal? ← Excuuuuuuuuse me, it's a pigeon head. The meal was delicious. Ken took care of us, though next time we need to convince him that we're up for more adventurous stuff. (We actually ordered the squab at the end of the meal when we saw them bringing out to the table across from us.) I'll post more details soon.

We went for dinner last night, their first night being open to the public. They were very nice in squeezing us in without a reservation. The menu looks awesome and is pretty extensive. There are I think 5 hors d'oeuvres, 5 tartines, 15 or so "Plates" described as intermediate in size between a regular appetizer and a regular entree, and 2 Larger Plates. We started with potatoes cooked in aromatic salt (potatoes cooked and served with a sort of five-spicey salt), boneless Moroccan spiced wings with a yogurt dipping sauce, and three tartines, rabbit rillette, mackerel, and duck. These were all quite good, though the rabbit tartine was oddly reminiscent of whitefish salad to us (still delicious though). For plates we had tasmanian trout with brussles sprouts, octopus with escarole and mushrooms and miso, "scampi" (shrimp) with poached stuffed figs and kinda Indian spices, pork belly, and wagyu beef with all sorts of things I can't remember. Trout and octopus and shrimp were nice (the octopus might have been the hit of the night -- a pleasingly unusual combo). The pork belly was dry. Get a circulator, folks. The beef was tough and somewhat fatty. It was disappointing to end the meal with these two dishes, particularly as together they were almost $50. Wine was also disappointing. We got a bottle of German riesling that was described as dry but that was fairly sweet, and more to the point lacking much else. A quartino of the Super Tuscan was just plain bad, hot, no body, no finish. Don't remember producers. I should say that they were nice enough to take the Super Tuscan off the bill when we replaced it with the Malbec. This was, again, their first night being open, so take all of this for what it's worth, which may not be all that much. Oh, and I was expecting langoustines with the "scampi", but they were large shrimp. I find this usage of "scampi" pretty annoying. Why not just say shrimp?

Slice is hands down the best pizza in the area. (Thanks scase805 for turning us on to this.) The Americana is an awesome pizza in the Trenton tomato pie style -- cheese laid down first in moderation, then chunky tomato sauce on top, in this case made from San Marzanos. In fact, the owner told us that his inspiration to open the place was De Lorenzo's in Trenton, specifically the Hudson St. location, though he's completely forthcoming about the fact that you'll have to go to Trenton if you want the real thing. We've also had the caramelized onion and goat cheese pie, which was delicious. They deliver, how far away I'm not sure. Also, funny anecdote: our server used a can opener to open my drink and then left me to remove the cap from the bottle; she then apologized, saying that she doesn't like to touch the area where you put your mouth, as she handles money, etc. Our kind of people.

I thought they're doing it every Sunday now?

We had a great time at snackbar last night. It was so nice to see Johnny Mac letting loose, doing the kind of food that he wants to do. The hamachi crudo was my least favorite. I thought that the Campari caviar overwhelmed the fish with bitterness. By itself the dish was very enjoyable, though. The salad was great, I don't know how much of my enjoyment of the veggies was due to their intrinsic quality as opposed to the method of cooking, but they were terrific. The chicken wings were addictive, bursts of pure umami. I though the lamb was chewy, but this is not a cut known for its tenderness, and the flavors were right on. The cheese course was outstanding There isn't any other restaurant in town doing food like this. It has to be encouraged. We were heartbroken when brunch disappeared -- let's help to make these tasting menus more frequent, if anything. I'm looking forward to the next one!

Well that was quick... Foobooz is reporting that Katz is no longer at Silk City.

But Plotkin was already mistaken about what Laban ordered (he thought he'd ordered a steak sandwich without the bread). According to whom exactly did Laban offer this admission, and what was the nature of the admission? I can see Laban apologizing for having made a mistake in not mentioning in his blurb that he'd had the lunch steak. But this is not an admission that anything in the blurb was factually incorrect.

It's also worth mentioning depending on how the meat is trimmed and portioned you can get a rib steak to look identical to a NY strip steak, particularly when cooked. If the bone and fat cap are removed from a rib steak, you're left with the same eye muscle that becomes the NY strip farther down the cow.

not on page 2 ← I was referring only to the steak "photo" on the first page of the Web version. ← Yeah, I think we know that those photos are altered... my point was that the underlying steak doesn't look great

Hasn't philadining already covered this -- is there any credible evidence that Laban actually made a mistake? The only evidence, it seems, is Plotkin's assertion that Laban was served a rib eye, not a strip. But Plotkin originally claimed that Laban was served a steak sandwich without the bread, and then apparently changed his story when Laban was able to produce a receipt showing that he got a steak frites. So Plotkin has lost all credibility, imho.

I don't think this would fly... I don't know how long the term "New York strip" has been around or how it came into use but yeah, it's understood to be a strip loin cut. For example look under "Strip Loin Lexicon" here: http://www.beeffoodservice.com/Cuts/Info.aspx?Code=41 The first entry is "New York Strip" As far as Chops' meat itself -- the pictures in the article (they're bigger in the print version, where they're a two-page title spread) aren't terribly flattering. I don't know if these are even pictures of Chops' actual meat or just generic pictures of steak for a steak article, but the meat has virtually no marbling...

Um, yeah. I've already emailed Steve Volk asking for a correction.