johnder

Supposedly Milk and Honey's Red Room in London, freezes ice, lets the ice melt and then freezes the melted water again. At least that is what they say on their menu. John

So last night a group of us were at applewood for a special offal dinner tasting menu. I approached Chef Shea and his wife Laura about doing an all offal tasting event a few weeks ago the they were gracious to accept this task. We had an amazing meal last night that I will recap: Amuse: vermont pork testa garlic crostini, dijon mustard braised calves tail sandwich candied coriander served with gruet brut campenoise, n/v --- First Course sauteed veal tripe pickled tongue, onions, organic greens served with pine ridge chenin blanc/viognier, clarksburg '05 --- Second Course roasted veal sweetbreads brussels sprouts, curried soubise served with villa wolf pinot gris, pfalz '05 --- Third Course pan fried lamb testicles and grilled lamb kidney Jalapeno relish, cauliflower soup served with navarro dry gewurztraminer, anderson vallue '04 --- Fourth Course sauteed calves brains potato gnocchi, sage brown butter served with chateau cadillac lesgourges, bordeaux superieur '03 --- Fifth Course braised veal heart stew roasted root vegetables, polenta served with seven terraces pinot noir, marlborough '05 --- Dessert lemon cream vanilla madeline served with bonny doon muscat vin de glaciere All I am going to say is wow. It was amazing. The testa was a great opener to the evening and the heart stew was the hands down favorite of the night. The tripe salad was amazing, mainly due to the textural contrasts of the dish. The tripe was sliced into strips and fried and the tongue was pickled and thinly sliced. I will upload some photos in a few minutes.

There is blurb about Paul over at Grub Street here. There is another paragraph or two over at Grub Street at the link above.

For those that are interested, I heard D&C is still closed for maintenance and paperwork. When I hear about a re-opening date, I will post it. John

For me if I have the energy a Sazerac. If I have no energy 2 fingers of Red Hook or George T. Stagg

There is a discussion going on over at webtender the fantastic Angus posted a video he took when he was served a dry martini. Some interesting things from this video, Video here. It was a mix of Beefeater and Tanqueray. The vermouth was served on the side. The ice was rinsed with mineral water before mixing a liquor. The drink got a olive garnish, but just a touch of lemon to the rim on one side. Quoting from Angus' post over on webtender. Angus' full post over at webtender is here.

Just a quick update, D&C will be closing tonight for staff training and redecorating and will be re-opening Monday night.

They were closed last night because everyone was at the hearing. I am not sure when their license expires, but it is very soon from what I heard. Eater also has some more detailed coverage of the event here.

So after a very long and tedious CB meeting in which 5 people for the renewal of Death and Company and 5 people against the renewal the board voted by close to a 2-1 margin in favor not to support the renewal of the liquor license for D&C. What this means is that they will not have the support of the CB3 board in their renewal efforts. How much this will impact the final result is to be determined. The opponents of D&C presented some facts that were suspicious, mainly the reports of tremendous bass from the music, people congregating outside at all hours of the morning, people vomiting on the street, etc. While the have overcome the issue of the distance of them from the synagogue by having to letters from architects stating the distance is 202.6 feet, a representative of the synagogue presented his case that he paced off 133 feet which seemed to have more impact unfortunately with the board then the letters of the licensed architects. The next step will likely involve lawyers and letters and all sorts of hurdles to overcome. I am not sure what this means for the short term health of their business as their license is expiring very soon. If they can continue to operate in the interim while the renewal is pending is an open question. I will try to get some more details from the owners tomorrow and report back.

Guys (and gals), I am worried this topic is straying too far off topic, especially with the recent posts. I would encourage everyone that if you have a opinion one way or another (especially if you are in CB3) to come voice it at the hearing on the 27th. While I understand people want to discuss various scenarios here, there is a point where it becomes too much. John

Move coverage of the license issue over at Death and Company, this time at the Villager It seems that one of their most serious concerns, being less than 200 feet away from a place of worship could be solved: Unfortunately, they still need to go to the next CB3 hearing on the 27th and answer questions again.

That is awesome news. Well deserved for Chef Chang. I am curious to go there tomorrow to see the hangovers. Of course I will just have to peer through the windows as it will be a sea of people for the future. John

There is an interview with Chang over at eater talking about what it means for him regarding the pending review. It is a hilarious interview. Interview here. Some highlights: My money is on them getting two stars, so here is his take on that:

So I picked up a cookbook over the weekend and one of the dishes in it calls for "salted peppers". They give a recipe in the back of the book to make this which is basically red, ripe peppers and salt. Stick in a jar for a few weeks and thats it. I have been trying to find this in the local Chinese market with no luck. I do see a lot of bottles and brands called "pickled peppers", which look like red peppers, is this the same thing? John

Having made quite a few dishes from your awesome pictorial, I am looking forward to this blog and increasing my knowledge of Chinese cuisine! john

This is actually a cocktail that Johnder has been working on. He had brought in the jam earlier last night to get feed back form the bartenders and try it with the Los Amates Mescals. ← Go John! Sorry, I thought they'd been developing it for John...it has inspired me, I want to work on it too...though I may have to add cinnamon, since I love love love cinnamon with blueberry. ← Lol! I posted the recipe as it stands now here. I am really digging the mescal/rye combo. And after having 3 of them last night, I am happy to report no ill side affects. John

Given the sudden 8 seconds of fame my drink got in Megan's blog, I wanted to update the recipe a bit based upon the research last night. The recipe as it stands now: 1.75oz Rittenhouse .25oz Los Amates Reposado 1 oz Lemon Barspoon Bonne Mamman Wild Blueberry Jam 2 Dashes Fees Shake, double strain. There are reports that 3/4 oz of lemon brings out the rye flavor a bit more, I will investigate that tonight.

True -- cheese warms the soul, but not on a night like last night.

You could have always just had cheese and wine at Picholine. That has been many a after-opera dinner form. Not the healthiest, but tasty.

Drums here. Luckily the people I usually eat wings with like the flats. Works out well for me.

It is a two-fer today for Varietal. A review hit the New York Sun today too, here. And on Chef Kahn:

Varietal got reviewed in the New York Observer today, here. 1.5 stars, a couple of outtakes: And on Chef Kahn: Summary:

So what are you making?

Just a heads up -- Death and Company when they took over the lease from the previous owner also inherited their liquor license. As a result their liquor license is coming up for renewal. As part of the renewal process they need to be present at the local community board hearing to answer questions and address complaints. The owners of Death and Company attended the local CB3 board meeting last night as part of the process to renew their license. Unfortunately it seems the community is looking down upon D&C as it is more of a club rather than a tapas/cocktail place. Of the complainants last night, one was a local person concerned with the garbage pickup, and another was a representative from the local synagogue who is concerned about their proximity to the place. (The Synagogue is on 6th and 2nd Ave). The board is concerned that that come summer it will be a nightmare with an huge outside scene. At the end of the meeting two motions were passed, one was to recommend the SLA (state liquor authority) investigate the proximity to the Synagogue; and the other was to recommend a decline to the SLA in regards to the renewal based upon they are not confirming to that they said in their transfer application -- serving small plates of food and operating as a restaurant, even after showing the menu to the chair woman outlining the food selections. Unfortunately the next steps are bad, it is going to go down to lawyers and petitions, and trying to rally support for them at the next Community Board 3 Meeting on March 27th. This just seems to highlight the bigger problem of the SLA recently, as it is getting harder and harder to obtain a license for legit places that want to serve food and drink, especially in the East Village.

Ok, I know I missed the deadline, but I have been playing around with a recipe for a few days now, and unfortunately spent way to much time at the Tales of the Cocktail Toast last night at Pegu consuming Sazerac's and Ramos'. I know -- you can thank me later, taking one for the team like that. Anyhoo -- this recipe is either extremely insane or brilliant. I can't tell. I personally like it but don't know if my extensive "testing" of this drink has swayed me. I look to your professional tastebuds. I have talked about this drink to a few people and always met with a strange look. 1.5 oz Rittenhouse Rye .5 oz Los Amates Joven Mescal * 1 oz Lemon Scant barspoon Bonne Mama Wild Blueberry Jam Dash Fee's Aromatic Shake, double strain. I have used Patron Anejo in place of the Los Amates with good(?) results as well. I really like the smoky flavor the Los Amates brings though. For me, at least when I taste it, think the Rye and small amount of smoky tequila/mescal give a nice contrast along with the Blueberry and Bitters. I await your pyscho-analysis. John