johnder

I had an amazing Manhattan recently from Mr. Wondrich at the Taste of New York event where he was mixing up the Manhattan Club Manhattan recipe from his new book. It was especially tasty since I was working the event and this libation was the perfect thirst quencher after all the drinks we put out. It was a simple 50/50 M&R and Wild Turkey Rye 101 Manhattan with Angostura Orange, stirred, up with a big fat orange twist. John

Yah, "fat washing". It rocks. Infuse with fat flavor of you choice, chill, strain, enjoy.

I grew up with Kitchen Aid dishwashers at my parents and over 12 years they have blew through 2 of them. The first one lost it's hinges twice, the second one the motor blew out 2 months after the warranty elapsed. They recently replaced it with a Bosch SHX98M09UC. When I redid my kitchen I installed a Bosch SHE55M05UC and don't regret it for a second. I have both used the dishwasher in the dirty unscraped, unrinsed with no problems what-so-ever. But in full disclosure, given there are only 2 of us, we find outselves rinsing dishes since we don't run the washer until it is full and it may take us 2-3 days to fill it up. I also sometimes use the "rinse" cycle to get rid of the crud instead of the manual pre-rinse. I think the Bosch does a good job with dirty dishes, mainly because it super-heats the water with their in-line water heater so you get extremely hot water during the cycle. It is also amazingly quiet. The one thing that you takes getting used to is the fact you can't unload the dishes immediately after the cycle. The Bosch doesn't have a heating element to dry the dishes (which makes it more energy efficent, as well as not damaging any fragile glasses). It dries by using condensation drying which draws the water off the glasses into the stainless shell of the washer. It does take time to do this, so you need to let the glasses sit 15 minutes after the cycle to dry completely. Also by not having the heating element, you don't get that steam plume coming out the front of the washer like other models. I love my Bosch.

Sazerac. I think the flavor changes as the sazerac warms. Given I am usually drinking high proof sazeracs (staggerac anyone?) I find myself sipping them slowly, and the flavor I find changes as the drink warms and the individual notes of the drink are more apparent. Especially on the abstinthe (or pernod) rinse as well as the bitters notes.

oh and when they tell you a dish is hot and be careful not to touch it, they mean it. Right Mitch?

Had some luck in being able to attend the chef's table last night with a few other eG people. First off, the meal is probably the second best deal in the city after the $12 soup and sandwich at GT. The amount of food and pairings you get for about 120 bucks (including T&T) is pretty amazing. After looking through the dishes from FG almost everything was the same with a few minor changes. The trout was replaced with a smoked sea bass wrapped in corn husks with fennel. The bone marrow was also done differently, it was a long (6") bone, sliced in half lengthwise and topped with some breadcrumbs and garlic. I have never seen marrow presented that way and it was definitely a lot easier to eat. All the dishes were prepared with great care and were all very good. One dish did stand out, mainly the squab. It was cooked perfectly, the breast rare and the leg well done. Excellent flavor and texture in the meat as well. The one area that I think could use some improvement is the wine pairings. I understand they can't possibly pair a wine with each course and as a result have carryover on the wine for a few courses, but I didn't really find the wine pairings to hit on all cylinders with any particular course. Also the smoking kir royal although impressive to look at, does have the unfortunate side affect of causing the champange to go flat. The carbonation that is coming off the dry ice sucks all the carbonation out of the drink and when you are about 1/2 way through it is flat. The other thing is I would really like to see some sort of bread with the meal. A lot of the dishes had amazing sauces that would have been amazing to sop up with some bread. Especially if they could crank out some amazing flatbreads from that oven they have. Aside from that it was a great night. The interaction between the table and Waldy is great and he seems to be having a blast with it. The oven is amazing and given that almost all the dishes came out of it really makes it a unique experience. I wouldn't hesitate to go back in a second for another round.

What did you find on your trip up there Robin? I am heading up there in 2 weeks myself. Would be interested to know if you found anything I should check out. John

I think the way I would have handled it is probably something along the lines of.. I would ask the bartender... "I am sorry, is there a different house recipe for a sidecar that you use, because this one tastes different from what I normally have" This avoids having it seem you are attacking him (even though he/she was obviously bad) and moves the blame to the house and this question should open it up to conversation. His/Her proper response would hopefully be something along the lines of and apology and asking you what was wrong with it and immediately correct it. Unfortunately, I think you lost your chance of complaining about the price after you had the drink, it would be one thing if you didn't finish the drink. Did you notice if they had any well based cognacs in at the bar? Some bars don't have anything below Couv, but I agree, 15 bucks is overpriced. At PDT we make a sidecar with Hine VSOP and Cointreau and only charge 12.

I just checked Bevmedia and it doesn't list it but that doesn't mean it can't be found. Bevmedia just lists products from the major distributors (Southern, Empire, Atlantic, Opic, and about 15 others) There are a few smaller distributors out there that aren't in Bevmedia that could carry it, but it's pretty slim.

Hah, your right. Thats what jetlag will do for you (just flew back from Cali late last night) It is a tanqueray base. The Phillips Daiquri is the one with the Flor De Cana.

Yes it does have vinegar. It is fresh concord grapes from the local farmers market that we make into a classic "shrub" base. A shrub is a fruit typically preserved with vinegar and sugar. We use this shrub base in a cocktail paired with Flor De Cana white rum, simple syrup and Richard pastis.

CiaCiaro + Angostura Orange + a Neutral Grain Spirit (to thin it down and increase the proof) give a pretty amazing Picon recplica.

I just had some house-made oregat at the Slanted door. Their version is a modified one from the Art of drink. It was by far the best oregat I have tasted. Blows the doors off the commercial stuff. The stabilize it by adding a bit of cognac to it.

That is an option -- one of the things I want to check out is 15 East 15 they are doing a "beer kir" with sapporo and honeyed sweet potato vinegar which sounds awesome. The other option is do to some fat washing of the puree and use that in a simple syrup infusion.

Some of the things that are on our idea list don't restrict themselves to fruits -- nuts, herbs are big on the list. The birch infused rye drink is a good example. Also figs and squash are something I want to play around with.

Personally I see a correlation of price increases going along with the price of ingredients. As many chefs/restaurants are moving to local/organic menus, the price of these ingredients is much higher than the normal purveyors/sysco solution. An example would be Applewood in Brooklyn -- their entrees are in the mid 20's, and while slightly high for Park Slope, I pay that a) because they have a one on one relationship with the farmers, b) almost everything they use is organic and locally sourced, c) food it great and d) supporting a local family run place. I personally like that fact that the beef tartare I am eating from from Lydia's farm in upstate New York, and the fact that I actually met Lydia. I find re-assurance in that knowledge. I don't mind paying a premium for that. As far as 30 being the new 20? Yah, I would say people are becoming used to seeing one or two entree's hopping over the 30 mark, but there have been many places over the past 2 years pushing that limit with $28/29 dishes. Just my 02.

Thanks guys for the great compliments. It really is a blast working there. We are dotting the i's and crossing the t's on our new expanded drink menu. At last count we are going to have 19 drinks which are a mix of house created cocktails, classics, as well as a few "friends and family" cocktails from other great cocktail institutions. Also we are working on the idea of having a weekly market based cocktail special that will change given availability of ingredients. We hope to have the menu out in a week or two. John

The food portions are on the larger side, I was definitely full after having the app and entree. I was coerced into getting desert by the rest of the table. I agree with the wine list -- it is limited and on the pricey side. From what I remember the least expensive red was in the high 40's.

Had dinner last night at A&D. Overall really excellent. The space is extremely warm and inviting once inside. Long front bar in the front, seperated by a small corridor to 2 main dining rooms in the back. The brick walls and numerous candles give it a very cozy feel. Even though the room was fully at capacity when we left, the noise level was completely bearable. Started off with a cocktail at the bar -- their variation of a sidecar. Their tweak on it was using chartreuse, but if that wasn't good enough, they use VEP! It was great. Since we were 4 people we had the chance to try quite a few dishes. We had the hamachi, terrine, leeks, bone marrow and raviolo. The bone marrow and terrine with the hands down winners. The bone marrow was removed from the bone, so you basically had a composed plate of bone marrow -- almost in the form of little meat butter gnocchis. The terrine was amazing, layered pork and guinea hen, wrapped in cabbage(?) and basted with maple syrup. The aroma from this was perfuming the entire room when it was brought out. The one slight miss was the raviolo. I found the filling to be slightly dry, but otherwise tasty. For mains we had: Dorade, Duck, Pork Belly, Lamb All were hits, excellent composition of the plates, well balanced flavors and excellent excution overall. The pork belly (which I had) was great, crispy top layer, melting fat layer underneath. They based the top of the pork with a fenugreek reduction again giving off an amazing perfume to the entire room when it was carried through. Deserts were: Chocolate, pineapple and fall fruits. No really misses here -- for me personally, the best part of the deserts were the ice creams. The angelica ice cream as well as the olive oil were to die for. Overall, given they have been open for a little over a week, it was a pretty amazing meal. The service was spot on, and the kitchen was definitely firing on all cylinders. I highly recommend going before it becomes impossible to get a reservation. I did try to take some pictures, but even with a slow shutter speed and high iso, the pictures were too dim to get anything passable.

One of the biggest problems faced when I am behind the bar is a problem of perception and what one person thinks is the proper way to do a classic isn't the same. PDT gets a pretty diverse crowd depending on the night. We find that most of the time 60-70% of the people will order off the cocktail menu. 20% will order some beer or vodka based long drink (vodka/soda) and 10% of the people will start off with a drink off the menu that could be considered a classic that they either came straight out and ordered, or asked for a suggestion. The problem is how people perceive their classic should be made. Margarita -- our house recipe is 2 oz Azul Tequilla, 1 oz Cointreau, 3/4 oz fresh lime. And they are asked if they want it up or on the rocks, salt or no salt. Personally, I like a 2-1-1 drink as I like it tarter that most. More than once I have made the 2-1-.75 and people have asked for it to be sweeter. Manhattan -- If someone asks for a Manhattan my first word to them is would you like it Rye or Bourbon. Then they will get a 3 - 1.5 Manhattan with 1 angostura and 1 orange bitter, up with 3 brandied cherries. Old Fashioned -- house recipe, no muddled fruit, 1 bar spoon demerra sugar, 2 oz rye or bourbon built in rocks glass garnished with a cherry and orange twist (slice upon request) If someone asks for a "Martini, up, twist" I will automatically ask do they have a preference on their gin. 60% of the time they will make a face and ask for Grey Goose at which point I go into my spiel of the fact we dont have Grey Goose. If they answer back picking a gin, I ask if they would like orange bitters in it. 1 out of 20 times someone says yes. These our our house recipes -- granted I will make a drink however people want their classic made if they specifically request it. Generally we will make a drink a way a person wants it -- with the exception of changing our house cocktails. We get people that say, I don't want grapefruit juice in your {insert name here} cocktail, can you make it with pineapple. Can you use vodka in place of rum in your {insert cocktail here}. Our response to that is a very polite no, and we try to redirect them to a drink that has their ingredient in it, as opposed to changing our house special drinks to something they are not.

I just looked up the recipe for a Martini in the Harry Johnson barguide which is from 1900 -- It calls for; 2-3 dashes gum syrup 1 dash curacao or absinthe; if required 1/2 wineglass old tom gin 1/2 wineglass vermouth stir, strain, garnish with cherry or olive if required and a lemon twist on top. This could be the source of confusion. It is very similar to a martinez with the exception that you are using gum syrup and or curacao/absinthe.

There are several variation of the Martinez cocktail floating around. They all have Gin, Vermouth, Maraschino and bitters in them, just depends mainly if it is a gin based drink or a vermouth based drink. I am sure Splif can answe more definitively, but from what I remember the first mention of the martinez was in the Thomas bar guide in which is was 2/3 sweet vermouth and 1/3 Old Tom gin, 2 dashes (1/8oz?) maraschino and one dash orange bitters. Given it was 2 oz of sweet vermouth and an ounce of Old Tom it was a very sweet drink. It has changed over the years to reverse the proportions so that it is now 2oz gin and 1oz sweet vermouth, 1/4 oz maraschino and 1 dash orange bitters. That is the "house" recipe at many bars here in NYC if you ask for a martinez. There are some variations floating around. We do one at PDT where it is 1.5oz beefeater, 1.5oz carpano antica, 1/4oz maraschino and 1-2 dashes of orange or abbott's like bitters. Phil at D&C has been playing around with a Punt e Mes version as well which is pretty amazing. For me I prefer a slightly sweeter variation of the Martinez, hence the 50/50 gin/carpano.

Wow thanks Ah Leung! I will make some calls! John

So I am attending a conference at the end of October that is being held for 3 days at the Ritz @ Laguna. I am on the team trying to come up with places that can accommodate a group of 60 people for dinner. Right now most of the places we looked at are asking for a complete buy out for the night and in the 20-25k range. While we do have a big budget, the 20-25k per dinner is a little too much. Does anyone have any thoughts or ideas on place for dinner in the 200-250 per head range? Thanks in advance, John

I'm going to disagree on the Shake Shack (which I love). neither of those are "only in NY". the burger is Wisconsin-style. the custard is Wisconsin-style (albeit not as thick). the concretes are St. Louis style. ditto for corn on the cob and the spicy beef tendon. which is why I'm withdrawing the tung-po pork from my list. ← Granted, you can get these items other places, maybe better, maybe not as good. The point I was making with my entries is there is a certain 'extra" something you get by eating these in ny. Sure, you can drive up to a shake stand in the mid-west, but where else can you do it in the middle of a urban park surrounded and enjoy eating with with priceless people watching?