johnder

to quote the great Wayne Campbell... "We're not worthy! We're not worthy! Schwing!" Man this is awesome.

Hi Susan - Welcome to the board! John

It may taste like iced tea in flavor, but the interesting thing is the texture of it.

How about a classic daiquiri, or a lime syrup version? 1/2 oz lime simple syrup 1/2 oz lime juice 2 oz rum You can easily batch this and serve it on the rocks. John

HI Vadovan! Excellent thread! I am drooling over the pork belly already. Can't wait to see how it turns out. I had a pretty awesome banana tt that was part of an all pork fest at Rosewater resturant here in Brooklyn. They actually added some bacon batonettes in along with the bananas that gave it an awesome smokey aroma, as well as a great mouth feel. John

Oh Decibel. Last time I was there I was entertaining a intern visiting from Toshiba and after 4 hours of drinking and untold bottles of sake later I remember staggering outside seeing a huge snowdrift on the sidewalk and sensing it to be a really comfy looking place decided to take a nap.

Hmm I will have to think about it. Off the top of my head it seeing all the cherries in the market it could be interesting. Maybe heat some cherries in a simple syrup to soften them up and puree it to adding simple to bring it to the right sweetness. Could be interesting. May be to overpowering though.

Damn! Too bad I am allergic to strawberries! Have you tried it with any other fruit? John

I came up with a cocktail over here that uses verbena. It is a variation on a daiquiri. The 3 leaves I used did give it a pretty good verbana taste. You can probably increase its level by making a lime/verbena simple syrup to use in it. John

I had dinner last night there as part of a company dinner. We had about 16 people in the long communal table on the lower level. While the space is prety amazing, by the time it was 8pm it was deafening. Since we were a large group we had a prix fix menu which was (as well as I can remember) Apps: Fried rock shrimp Lobster Dumplings Snow pea dumpings Fried Calamari and arugala w/ asian pear salad Asparagus with what I think was miso sauce Entrees: Filet with butter sauce Braised short ribs Lobster Stir Fry Sauteed Chinese brocolli Deserts 3 or 4 different deserts, I wasn't paying attention at this point. I really didn't get a good verbal description of the dishes as they were being set down even though they were explaining them, it was so incredibly loud even after asking them to repeat it, I couldn't hear it. We had 4 orders of each dish and I have to say I was starving at the end of the meal. It just wasn't enough food. I am not sure if that was the fault of the admin making the reservation, or the restaurant for suggesting the number of dishes for each person. The table did partake in quite a few of the house cocktails, but I stuck with my old standby, gin gimlet, rocks. None of the house cocktails really interested me. I did taste one of their margarita type drinks they had on the menu, but it was obscenely sweet. After subtracting the price of the booze, the check for 15 people was a little under 1400 bucks not including tip. Obscene. The food while prepared well didn't make me at any time think "Wow, this is really good". After dinner we headed up to the bar for a quick drink and it was a giant zoo. I have never seen so many tables of people drinking cosmopolitans before since sex and the city was on tv. It was packed. People were trying to eat food in the bar room and were constantly getting elbowed in the back by people trying to get a drink. I can now say that I have been there, but have really no desire to go back.

Sorry for the delay in the scouting report. Fairway Red Hook does indeed have the A. Monteux Rose Flower Water and the Orange Flower Water. 3oz bottle is 2.49. It is in the spice / specialty section which is the first section you past by after leaving the meat/seafood counters. John.

Don, I am heading to fairway tomorrow after work, I can check it out for you and report back. john

I agree with you on the stirring vs. shaking. I have always believed that a drink should be shaken only if it has citrus generally. Surely there are exceptions, but for me citrus = shake. no citrus = stir. john

You can get Methylcellulose from Will Goldfarb's place Room4Desert in NYC, or mail order through his company WillPowder

The Violet Femme I posted above is indeed Brian's original creation as confirmed tonight. I encourage you that if you have a bottle of Parfait Amor lying around to give it a go, it's really a awesome drink. John

The company I work for does a lot of online versions of popular diet plans and as a result we get huge pallets of the various diet food products, many before they are released to the public and are guinea pigs for them. Everyone in the office tends to shy away from eating them due to the large amount of sugar alcohols that are prevelant in the product. Too much sugar alcohol is a "very bad thing" John

I was at Pegu last night for a quick drink and they actually have Ti Punch on the menu now. I think they are still trying to figure out how to properly market it to people as I suspect some unknowing people are ordering this under the assumption it is a different drink than it really is and after taking their first sip decide they don't like it. It really is a drink that you need to let sit and mellow, not sure the best way to tell that to someone when they order it.

This is gonna be sweeeet. So exciting? Will there be sous-vide excitement? Sodium Alginate crazyness? Oh boy.

I get almost all my meats either from the famers market on the weekend or if I am in a pinch I will get it from Ottomanelli butchers. While I do end up paying a premium for the meat at the famers market, I am fine with that as I know exactly where my meat is coming from and how it was raised and actually talking to the farmers and hearing about their product. I get my chickens, pork and lamb all from the various farmers and usually over purchases to freeze so I always have some on hand. I can't remember the last time I purchased a Purdue or Tyson chicken.

When I walk into a bar that I don't know I usually survey their stock and then look at their bar setup. If I don't see a clean, ordered setup and at least one jigger I will abandon any cocktail that requires some precision and revert back to a gin gimlet. I find most bartenders can make these pretty easily. If I see a bar that has Applejack or Maraschino behind it I will then usually ask the bartender what kind of drinks he or she makes with them. More than once I have heard back "I have no idea what Maraschino it, it has been sitting there for ages." As far as another good standby drink is a Rob Roy.

Personally I think the way chickens and pigs are raised in a factory is extremely inhumane. I would be overjoyed if 20% of the attention given to the fois production and its "issues" were directed towards Purdue or Tyson where I think it would have a much bigger impact on people given the number of people that eat chickens versus fois. I think it is a very slippery slope we are on the verge on -- where once people have the power to influence bans on one thing, where will it stop?

Whole foods was on it's way off my shopping list a few months ago, but the fois and lobster announcements were really the last straw.

Given room temp fois is like play-dough I would think you cut a cube of it, cut it in half, scoop out the middle with a melon baller and put the two halves back together and smooth the edges with a pallet knife and chill. Then fill. Just a guess but that is what I would try.

Sounds like fun, John! What's the Violet Femme? Sounds like one gone, daddy, gone, cocktail. Please add it up for me. ~Erik ← The Violet Femme is a cocktail Brian at Pegu showed me. I think it his original creation, but not 100% sure. I will clarify with him next time I see him. 2 oz Plymouth 1/2 Oz Simple 1/2 Oz Parfait Amore 1 Oz Lemon. Grapefruit Peel Muddle Peel, add ingredients, shake, serve up with lemon wheel.

Tonight's beverage selection I had a Ti Punch with Ed's great La Favorite Rhum and the wife had a Violet Femme cocktail using my recently purchased bottle of Parfait Amor Nothing like a long weekend to try out mucho cocktails. john