johnder

Tell us more! ← I wish I could remember more details we went there about 5 months ago -- the things I do remember is that my wife had a California Negroni, which had grapefruit juice instead of orange. It was really nice. I had some sort of Mojito, but for the life of me I can't remember why I ordered it. (it had some exotic ingredient that caught my eye) I remember one of the courses had a "corn dog" which was pretty fabulous, along with fois gras prepared 4 ways. For desert we had a milk chocolate tasting that gave us many different preperations of milk chocolate. Sorry I don't remember more, but there has been alot of dining between then and now, so it becomes sort of muddled. John

I had dinner at Michael Mina last time I was out there it was pretty interesting. Although the cocktails before the meal and the deserts to me were the highlight of the night.

Excuse me, there is NOTHING disgusting about a gingerbread this. I will, however, agree with you about anything containing white chocolate. ← Ok, Ok, I apologize for saying your gingerbread drinks are disgusting. Maybe I should have said "Gingerbread coffee drinks are not to my liking

I have mixed feelings about Starbucks. While I agree they did enlighten many people about coffee, they also introduced people to disgusting concoctions like gingerbread this and raspberry white chocolate that. That given with the super fattening frappachinos they push and their super caffine infused roasts its pretty disturbing. I personally prefer to patronize smaller coffee shops that know how to pull a shot and foam milk so it doesn't taste like sand.. On the other hand, if I need a coffee and there is nothing else around I will patronize a Starbucks for an overpriced latte. But usually as a last resort.

I do my bacon in the oven over a half-sheet pan that has a baking rack in it. I find I get the bacon somewhat more tender letting the grease drip down below it as it cooks. Just my 2 cents.

Given that our kitchen is currently undergoing renovation and is, how can I say this... unusable at the moment, my breakfast usually consists of an excellent triple latte from Cafe Regular in Brooklyn along with a pain au chocolat. I will save you the horror of showing you a picture of what the space used to be our kitchen looks like.

You are correct on this. JG in his cookbook as a recipe for seared scallops with a caper raisin sauce that is served over roasted cauliflower slices. Excellent reicpe.

I haven't had the need to de-feather a bird myself, so I need to look in my game books to see how it is done. As far as gutting its a relatively straight forward process. Remove anything you don't want to eat. :-) I wouldn't be surprised if the de-feathering process is similar to other poultry, ie: drip the whole bird in boiling water and pull all the feathers off and then removing any of the pin feathers with an open flame. I will let you know if I find any other information on it once I find my game book.

Depends on the state, are you trying to clean a hung/aged feathered grouse, or a plucked grouse w/ its innards? I think I have a book that shows you how to do the former. I myself have done the later. Let me know what you are looking for. john

I have been looking for a place to get my knives sharpened. I was always jealous when I visited the green marked in SF how they had an on-site sharpener that would sharpen your knives while you shopped. How much do they charge for their service and do you have to leave them or acn you just wait? John

You can try Adtrians Caravan in the Grand Central Market. http://www.grandcentralterminal.com/adrianas_caravan.htm

I started using small paint jars from an art supply store several years ago with great results. The jars come in different sizes and are typically used to store paints for airbrushes. THe ones I have have a rubberized seal inside the cap to make them air-tight They are pretty cheap too, between .75 and $1.50 depending on the size. I get the locally from an art supply warehouse, but you can geth them online too. Here is a picture: http://www.in2art.com/product_popup.php?prodID=5638

Favs: Alton Brown Tony Bourdain Jaques Pepin Julia Child Mario Batali Jean-Louis Palladin Rachel Ray (just because I have a crush on her) Rick Bayless (although he did loose points with me when he did that burger ad) Dislikes: Charlie Trotter (I think his buttoned collars are cutting off his circulation) That woman from Everyday Italian on FOODTV(I can't even justify learning her name she bothers me so much) Sanda Lee (no talent, too perky) Michael Chiarello

wow, bleudauvergne do you take pictures of everything you cook? I just saw your posting in the quail thread and you had pictures of quail. you must have quite a library of pictures! :-)

I have a recipe I use with bonless quail It can probably be tailored to work with the bone-in quail, but if your knife skills are good, go for the bonless.. much easier to eat. I start by making a simple stuffing using toasted pine nuts, some shallots, golden raisins and some tarragon. Sweat that all together with some butter and finish it off with some acid -- I use cider vinegar. Just a splash to bring up the acid. Let the stuffing cool and then stuff the little buggers. I usually grill them in a grill pan with excellent results, but you can sear them off in a regular ovenproof skillet and finish them off in a 450 oven for a few minutes. During the last few minutes of cooking I glaze them with some pomegranite molasses. I serve it over a dressed frisee salad and sprinkled with some pomegranite seeds. (if you dont have access to pomegranite molasses, you can reduce some pomegranite juice and sweeten it with some sugar) John

unfortunately Dejah my tree isn't very attractive right now. All the leaves have left it. It is most beautiful righ as the leaves are turning golden. You can see some good pictures as well as tons of great information at: http://www.xs4all.nl/~kwanten/propagation.htm

I have, I guess fortunately and unfortunately a ~65 year old female ginko in the front yard of my house in Park Slope. Let me tell you this tree produces --- I dreaded waking up in the morning and stepping out my front door. Between the stench and the the sticky residue left from the smashed gymnosperms I was dying. Given the height of the tree the gymnosperms landed with such velocity they would spray its stink juice all over the place. I also found the unfortunate side effect after spending a few days cleaning them up, the dermatitis in males apparently. The seed coating contains The seed coat also contains small amounts of urushiol, an allergen that only on contact with the skin is responsible for poison oak and poison ivy contact dermatitis in sensitive people. Luckily the season is over and the stink bombs stopped dropping from above for another year. The funny thing is I never considered eating the seeds before. Last wednesday in the New York Times food section they had a big article on preparing ginko nuts, which intrigued me. -jpd

I have a few tips for you, given I am going through the same situation at the moment. We purchased a one family frame house in Park Slope that was built around 1903 and the kitchen was definitely lacking in both space and functionality as a result we completely gutted the kitchen and are now in the process of rebuilding it. I ordered kraftmaid cabinets from the new Lowes as well. I would definitely stick with full plywood construction. We looked at the ikea cabinets and decided against them because of their particle board construction. The main issue is that if it did get wet at the core accidentally you will be really screwed as the panels will swell up. Also make sure you opt for the Full Extension Drawer slides on all your drawers. Depending on the door selection you picked they may or may not be optional. Lowes has its own brand of Kraftmaid, called Cross Creek. If you order a Cross Creek door style, you get the upgraded slides. Otherwise you need to order the upgrade. They offer two different full extension slides, with and without buffer. The buffer is the model that after you push the drawer in, it will stop it a few inches from the end and slowly tug it back in the closed position. I had 6 base drawer cabinets and for me the difference in drawer prices was about another 550 bucks for the buffer model. For the microwave, if you don't mind giving up some of your space in the island you can get the kraftmaid Base Microwave Cabinet. (BMC). This will fit most small/mid sized microwaves and give you a drawer underneath it as well. Ideally I would probably place it opposite the fridge, as 95% of the things that go into the microwave come out of the fridge. As far as tile, I found an amazing deal on tile at Nemo Tile on E21st. (http://www.nemotile.com) . We got some standard white 3x8 subway tile for about $3 a sq ft, and a nice 1"x1" octagonal white bistro floor tile for the floor with a black border tile for about $3.75 sq/ft. They have a great showroom and friendly staff. If you are interested in doing tile, check them out. For countertops, we are still shopping around. I have a few neighbors who installed granite countertops from All Granite and Marble (http://www.allgraniteandmarble.com) and they swear by them. Apparently they bet the prices of about 5 other fabricators by quite alot. They have a huge lot full of marble in NJ right over the bridge and you basically go out there and pick out your slab and then they come and do a template for your counters. At this point I am heavily leaning towards quartz. The idea of it being able to handle really hot pots and pans without fear of damage and the almost non-existent maintenance it needs is very appealing. -jpd

The serviceware is really amazing, very original. My question -- from most of the photos it seems the consumables are perched rather precariously on the serviceware. Are you worried about the waitstaff being able to transport the items from the kitchen to the tables in one piece? john

I am not sure how much you want to schlep, but I always get my turkey from Dipalos turkey farm which has a stand on Saturdays at the farmers market at Grand Army Plaza. Usually you need to pre-order your turkey the in the weeks before t-day, but I know for a fact they always have a few extra turkeys on hand for people who forgot to reserve. The price is slightly higher than a supermarket bird, but you are getting a very high-quality freshly killed bird in return -- not to mention supporting the local farmers. If you want more information, feel free to PM me. john

Man all these pictures of food are killing me. I am resigned to only look at pictures of people preparing food at the moment. Our kitchen is being totally renovated and I am stuck with a microwave and a fridge at this point. I am so used to cooking dinner 5-6 nights a week I am going crazy. Hopefully sometime in the next 4 weeks we will have our kitchen back and I can start contributing my nights meals as well. Until them I will just feast on the photos.

My wife and I had dinner there this past Wednesday for an 8pm slot. We arrived a few minutes early and had some cocktails at the bar. The bar was pretty full, mostly with people eating at the tables surrounding the bar area. The bar itself is very dark, with most of the light coming from a strip light below the bar. We ended up having to hold the cocktail menu under the bar to read it. Between the font they chose and the lighting it was quite the task to pick a drink. We ended up having a Kaffir Mojito and the Cafe Grey Sidecar. Both very delicious. We got got seated in the main dining room along the long banquet looking out over the kitchen and the park. One of the first things we noticed is the amount of service staff around. It really was a flurry of activity, between the buspeople, waitstaff, wine stewards, floor managers it was like grand central station. After looking over the menu we decided to get 3 starters, one each, and one to split, along with two entrees. Appetizers: Her: Wild Mushroom Risotta Me: Vegetable Ragout Share: Cafe Grey Jicima Salad Entrees: Her: Salted Cod and Langostine Me: Braised Short Ribs w/ Grits Desert: Her: Carmelized Pear with Olives (!) Me: Cheese Course Turns out after we ordered, the 4-top next to us asked our waiter if there was a tasting-menu and must to our surprise (and disappointment-- considering we just ordered) there was. It was a 7 course menu at $125.00 that changes on the chefs whim. So if you are going to CG soon, be sure to ask them for the tasting menu if you want it. Overall the dishes were pretty good. The Risiotto was fantastic, as was the Ribs and Cod/Langoustine. The Ragout and Jicama were good -- nothing I would seek out and order again. The ragout was a selection of seasonal vegetables topped with a crispy spiced filo-like tangine cover. The Jicama salad was batonnets of Jicima and Crispy noodle like pieces in a yogurt and tarragon dressing. We couldn't quite make out the spices, but there was definitely a hint of sesame oil in it. The cheese course was excellent, a selection of 5 cheeses, with some quince paste, fig cake and a very bizarre shredded-spiced pear relish. As much as I tried, I couldn't find a cheese on the plate that worked with the pear relish. The winner of the evening was the Carmalized Pear that was served with w Fromage Blanc ice cream and candied olives. It sounds bizarre but it was amazing. The brine/saltiness of the lives played excellent off the caramel poached pair, bringing back memories of fantastic salted caramel squares I used to have as a kid. Service wise -- they need help. Even though they had service people everywhere, it was really easy as diners to be overlooked. We ordered a bottle of white to go with the first few courses and a glass of red (the Shiraz) for my ribs at the start of the meal. When they brought our entrees, they forgot my red. We ended up asking 3 people for my glass of wine and only after 10 minutes did it show up. The one outstandnig service person there was out busman. He was very astute, always filling our water glasses, checking the bread and butter. He was one of the best, most attentive bus-people we have ever dealt with -- the only person there who was really on top of the game. Overall I would have to say: Food: Above average, it can be great if you stick to "his" dishes. Sound level: is on the loud side. Especially if you are in the center of the room. Service: lets just say it needs improvement. Wine Service: Great. The brought the Sommelier over from Danube. Her really knows his Austrian wines. Price: 3 appetizers, 2 entrees, 1 bottle wine ($64), 2 glasses wine, 2 cocktails, 2 deserts: $280 not including tip.