johnder

Just buy a few of these suckers.

I second LuLu and Azie. Lulu is great if you are going with a few people as all their food is served family style. There is also a brewpub close by, Thirsty Bear Brewery -- 661 Howard Street. Decent beer and pub-like food. john

I agree with you BryanZ. As I get older I much rather prefer a selection of smaller tastes as opposed to one or two large portions. Keller phrases is appropriately in his service manual...

I am lucky enough to work about a block away from Jaques Torres' store in DUMBO, so when the urge hits I can walk over an get a cup of his wicked hot chcolate. It really is awesome. If I feeling truly bad, I can then walk across to his pastry shop Almondine and get a nice tart to go along with it.

I am very wary of buffets. I always worry about contamination and holding temps. Not to mention that the quality of ingredients they must use to keep the prices at what they do scares me. Costco all the way. :-) I would definately never get an all you can eat sushi. That sounds like a recipe for disaster. The buffet at aquavit I would consider though, I would lean towards trusting Marcus. jpd

Lobster Broth amuse at Per Se Cafe Grey Short Ribs House Made Liverwurst at the Modern.

for me... Peppar vodka, (or home-made) Tomato juice Worcestshire Sauce Tabasco Celery Salt Lemon Fresh Horseradish (otherwise Gold's Hot) Garnish with a nice pickled string bean.

I wasn't there NYE, but I was speaking to Brian Friday and he mentioned there would be a visit by Sam on NYE. He was preparing for a busy evening. I can only imagine the hangovers that resulted at the conclusion of the evening. Megan, I know Brian is working Thursday, so we may be in for the same. John

I was there last Friday, had one to many I think. We were there pretty early ~6 ish and it was maybe 25% full. By the time we left around 8, it was 70% full. Rumor had it that slkinsey was going to make an appearance there for New Years Eve.

I would just stick with any moderate champange or sparking wine. Given you are adding kir to it, it would be a waste to use a expensive bottle like veuve clicquot. I usually look for a nice $12-15 bottle, for my tastes something brut works well with the kir.

Well we may be in luck. It looks like they are just wating for the exec board to vote on it.

MSNBC Entertainment has a 4 page article online talking to various mixologists about their holiday cocktails. They have mini interviews with: Lucy Brennan Todd Thrasher Evelyn Hsu Ryan Thomas Magarian and Kathy Casey The first few paragraphs... The full article can be found here.

I know, I guess the laughing tone I was trying to imply with the "no shooting..." didn't come across to well. At least it seems he doesn't want you to use club soda in the drink itself, just apparently to chill the glass. Maybe we should tell the folks at Pegu and Milk and Honey they have been doing it wrong all this time! John

Hey -- don't shoot the messenger. Thankfully it is not my site. Lol

I have had good luck with Chef on Houston and Bowery. They will give you a good deal if you buy in volume and if you pay with cash you may even get a better deal. john

LOL, exactly! Maybe this is a place where you meet people who want to go to a bar with you? Who knows.

On my bike ride home last night from Dumbo every bar I passed by was packed. I think people for the most part are taking it in stride. On the ride in this morning I noticed a lot of people one the sidewalks holding signs "Need to go to Midtown", "Need ride to East Village". Quite a few cars were stopping to pick up people to make their 4 person quota. I did notice the women were getting picked up much more than the guys holding similar signs. I remember during the big blackout when my wife and I were living in an 8 unit apartment building it did turn into a giant stoop party. We brought out some pate we had in the fridge, the upstairs people made a big batch of mimosas, downstairs broke out the cheese and crackers. A few candles and we had a great blackout party. Everything in stride for us NY'ers it seems.

Interesting website I came across today, extratasty. It seems to be a drink related social networking site as well as the start of a drink database. Seems to still be under construction somewhat, but an interesting idea none the less. John

I have always used peppermint oil from my local health food store. It is way more powerfull then the extract so be carefull with the quantitiy. John

We have a bosch and love it. The main reason we purchased it was because of how quiet it is. We have an open kitchen that adjoins the dining room, so we wanted to be able to have the washer going while dinner is on. If we didn't have the lights on the front of the machine on while running we wouldn't know it was going. It is true that it doesnt have a grinder, but we tend to pre-rinse out dishes anyway. The machine does have a double strainer in the bottom that can be cleaned very easily for anything that gets caught. As far as the no drying cycle, meaning it doesn't have a heating element like most dishwashers it does take some getting used to but we found if you leave the machine closed for 30 minutes to an hour after the cycle is done it will dry most of the dishes almost completely. We do find some leftover water in any dishes or glasses that have depressions that will retain water, but it really isn't a big deal. As far as loading -- we find it a breeze.

The cabs are operating on zones. They aren't running off the meter, hence their lights being on. Here are the zones. (PDF Warning)

I think for the most part a one or two day strike will have a slight impact on the restaurants, but anything past that will have an exponential impact on them, mostly on restaurants in the city. I think there will be customers available -- the impact will be with staff and deliveries. For the most part I would think restaurants would have enough staff within walking distance of their place to keep functioning. The bussers/dishwashers/porters may be another issue. John

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome! I am looking forward to the exciting times ahead!

Admin: Threads merged. Does anyone have any recipes or suggestions for making your own cocktail cherries for garnish? I looked around the other threads here and saw mention of buying the day-glo red cherries from the supermarket and rinsing them off quite thoroughly then covering them with gin for a few days, and also mention about buying some fancy italian cherries. Has anyone made their own, or have other variations on creating them? -jpd

Bitters is definately a rage now. Before it was the same two types no matter where you tried to buy them. I was out in California a few weeks ago in the middle of the burb's in the east bay and found Regan's bitters on the shelf which was quite a surprise. I am hoping to see a surge in classic cocktails as a whole. I had dinner in SF recently at a little bistro called range and was surprised to see them offering an aviation as a special cocktail of the day. Of course I was slightly dissapoointed when it was done with lime juice and a lime twist instead of lemon, but at least they are trying. jpd