johnder

Happy Birthday! Great blog, looking forward to the next week! I used to work for a company that had an office in Amsterdam and the offices were right across from the Heineken factory. Talk about convienent! John

I have been trying to track down a source to purchase a bottle of BLiS Caviar's barrel aged maple syrup after trying it at Moto last week. It was really amazing. Their website is really bad, and says it is only available to select distributors, but calls to their number requesting more information has gone unreturned. Anyone have a mail order source for this, or better yet a retail source in NYC? Thanks, John

I thought about doing a drinking game everytime I saw a HAACP or some othe food safety violation. I then realized I would be passed out before the first commercial break. john

It's baaaaaaaack. NBC is airing the penultimate episode tonight at 8pm and then the final at 9pm Last chance to watch this train wreck of biblical proportions.

ok, I just got back from moto, and to sum it up, amazing. I am way to full and have consumed too much wine to do his food and the experience we had justice at this time, but I will post a full report tomorow along with pictures of him and his new fancy laser as well. really and stunning meal. jpd

Man I didn't see that coming! That was the biggest train wreck I have ever seen. I wonder how p-diddy feels about it, given he co-exec produced it. It is funny how nbc.com is spinning it, "Last 2 episodes availables EXCLUSIVELY online" jpd

Well that was an option, but I didn't plan it that far ahead. I called this morning and they were booked for tonight. Alas, maybe next time I am in Chicago I will have more advance notice. John

Ah well that answers that question. Thanks!

I am finding myself in Chicago for 2 nights starting tonight and wanted to check out Alinea, since I am alone, I prefer to dine at the bar. Does Alinea offer full food service at the bar? John

I agree... the bar is so small that if the bartender turns around with his arms too far out he would knock all the bottles off the shelves. I was there a few weeks ago with slkinsey and we had quite a few different drinks with very diverse ingredients and they made them all. John

This was the most ridiculous thing I have seen on tv as long as I can remember. Luckily I don't really like Gale Greene, and don't really know anything about Colin --otherwise I would have worried about the food posioning they are most definatley going to experience after tasting all that food. The hygiene and food safety on that show was non-existant. I think the only reason I watched as much as I did of the first show is I was amazed by the tensile strenght in Cindy Margolis' dress straps. They must have been made of kevlar. This is getting banished from tivo's memory as we speak. john

After growing up in NYC with sub-standard kitchens I was besides myself when we had the chance to buy a house in which we could gut the kitchen and make it over. We ended up doing all the work ourselves (minus the countertop installation) and I have to say after 10 months without any working kitchen I am VERY happy now. We are both very happy. Happy to not have to live off microwaved food and salads for 10 months. Granted having a 12' x 16' kitchen helps a bit too.

I think it was a "tool and a douche bag" -- which made me crack up even more (and even more appropriate)

If you want a great way to kill 20 minutes check out: http://stephenasprinio.com/ His recipe section is pretty amusing -- especially his "bubbling orgasm" kill me now

You also may want to check the coils on the back of the fridge. Granted this is a disgusting job and you may not want to see what is behind your fridge, but dirty coils and evaporator fins on the back of the fridge impact it's cooling performance. Here is a blurb from the diy website:

Tonight's drink the Martinez variation in Gary Regan's "Joy of Mixology" 2 oz Gin 1 oz Sweet Vermouth 1/4 oz Maraschino the recipe as published called for Angostura bitters, I put in some of my house made hess bitters. stir, up, twist. [in the background you can see some of Trader Joe's Habanero Pistachios]

Hey at least they didn't setup the line real time webcam yet.

Apparently people have thought long and hard on how to deal with the line... You can post your cell phone snapped picture to The Shakewatchers cam. and let everyone know how long the line is. Cute -- but it needs a lot more people for this to work.

I have a thread going for it here

Tonight had a QPS -- Queen's Park Swizzle. Sorry I took a few sips for quality control purposes before taking the picture.

They just updated the big apple bbq site with some details of the upcoming 2006 event. Details are still thin, but the highlights are: More space -- apparently they are taking over 24th between Mad and Park this year as well. Last year they had some wierd film event/cookoff in that space from what I remember. More pitmasters -- 12 this year (as opposed to 10 from last year)

No -- he didn't get any of us as far as I know. This was at the peak of the dot.com crazy so we were in high demand, and at that time we were all in jobs we liked. Ah the good old dot.com days. *sigh* Impressive enough to get you to take the job? I'm beginning to think that the fact that I've spent so little time in Las Vegas is not entirely a coincidence. ←

I have actually seen this in Vegas myself firsthand. Way back in the dot.com heyday I was at a conference in Vegas in which there was a pretty large group of us, all senior technologist (maybe 15) and a headhunter who was trying to recruit us desperately. He really wanted to pull out all the stops and impress us and after he gave us drinks at some private room at the House of Blues (can't remember the name, Tribute room?) at the top of Mandalay bay he decided to take us to Rum Jungle which was the hot club at the time. There was a huge line waiting to get in and two rather large bouncers controlling the flow, this guy walked right up to them pulled out a wad of bills, peeled off 2 hundreds, gave one to each bouncer and gestured over his shoulder that he and his friends want to come in. Without a word, the ropes parted and we entered, escorted by a bouncer who took us in. Once inside the the headhunter walked over to the roped off VIP section and did the same thing, peeling off another hundred, handed it to the bouncer and said we wanted to sit there, pointing to a group of large booths in the corner vip section. At that point my memory fades as I was mortified -- especially since the booths he was pointing to we occupied by people. Next thing I remember we were sitting in the booths, and bottle upon bottle of vodka, gin, whiskey were deposited on the table. Not exactly my style, but it was impressive to watch. John

I too believe in the tip very heavy on the first drink, especially if I am at a bar where it is frantic and 2-3 deep. Usually a $10 tip on the first round of drinks will ensure that it is easier to catch the bartenders eye later in the evening.

I know this doesn't qualify as high-end dining or even ethnic food, but you should try to sneak in a In-and-Out stop if you get the chance. I was out in Burbank for a long weekend and had my first Animal Style Double-Double along with a well done fries and a chocolate shake. Man that was tasty. John