Buckethead

Why wouldn't you expect hot spots? If the Induc'Inox line is a carbon steel core clad with stainless, two of the worst conductors used in cookware as far as diffusivity, doesn't it follow that you would get hot spots?

Pfft! Some might call them Lemmings, as well. I respect Mr. Laban and his writings very much, but seriously. There's too much good (and bad) food out there to wait for something to hit his radar screen, get reviewed three times, and make it into the publication rotation. And once it does you can't get a seat anyway. ← Unless I am mis-remembering, mr. Laban has said in the past that his reviews are not written for people like the ones who inhabit EG or Chowhound or whatever. They're written for people who do not go out to eat very often, for whatever reason, and who want to know in advance that their time and money will be well-spent. Not everyone has the time to check out a new restaurant every week (or even every other week), or the money to risk going out to the new trendy place of the moment, only to have it suck. For those people, I think they could do a lot worse than following Laban's ratings. I tried out Zento last night, it was great. I don't know if it's my favorite sushi in the city, but it's definitely up there. The Zento Square roll was a real standout. My only complaint was the presence of the giant flatscreen TV directly over the head of my dining companion. Not sure why that thing is there. We also ordered the Toro tartare for an app but were served yellowtail instead. It was great, and the server did apologize, so no big deal. Can anyone verify that they are using real wasabi and not colored horseradish? I read somewhere that they were using fresh-ground wasabi, and I did notice that the texture and flavor of it were quite different (and better) than the puke-green stuff you normally get with sushi. I've never had real wasabi though, so I wasn't sure.

Forgive me if this question has been answered, I searched and couldn't find it... I am in need of a new frypan, and it's been a while since I've shopped around. Are pan diameters typically measured across the base or across the top? I'd guess the former, because depending on the degree of flaring in the sides, the diameter could vary widely by manufacturer if measured across the top. I'm looking to replace a pan that's 8 inches in diameter across the base of the pan, 10 inches across the top.

My main complaint about Eulogy is that the place is incredibly uncomfortable to sit down in. Even when you can find a table or a seat at the bar, it's so tightly packed that you are constantly getting bumped and jostled. Also, the fry dipping sauce they use is McDonald's Arch Deluxe sauce. That may have changed, I haven't been there in a long time because I know it'll be impossible to sit down.

I went on Wednesday night, you guys aren't kidding, the place is awesome. We had the pizza Lombarda, capon tortellini, candele with boar ragu, arancini, and the sweet hazelnut polenta for dessert. The only thing I wasn't crazy about was the arancini. I liked the fritter that had peas in it, but didn't care for the tuna one. Everything else was fantastic. For the outstanding quality of the food, I think the prices are right on, maybe even a little low. The candele and boar ragu for $16 is a few bucks more than my neighborhood red gravy place, but it's five times as good, the pasta is house-made, and the boar!! It was easily my favorite restaurant meal in the last several months. I'd put Osteria right up there with Ansill as one of my favorite places in the city. If they improve the way places normally do in the months after opening, look out. When we were there, there was a big empty space in the rear (the north side of the building, you can see it from the sidewalk) with two large tables, both empty. It wasn't lit up and didn't look quite finished back there, but it looks like an area intended for large parties. Does anyone know what that is?

Two people can eat a nice dinner at Alyan's for $15-$20. Ditto at many south philly tacquerias. From the crowds that frequent those places when I'm there, I'd guess a large number of Mexican immigrants do use the tacquerias as everyday places. I would too, if I could handle the spice..

Well, I went to Ansill last night for the prix fixe and I gotta say it was a disappointment. I had never before had a less than stellar meal there, so maybe they've spoiled me. I've learned my lesson: no matter how good the place normally is, you will be disappointed by a special holiday prix-fixe. The scallops in particular were not good. There were three huge ones on the plate, and that was one course out of four, so I can't imagine they were the best quality scallops to begin with. I did really love the venison tartare and the hamachi ceviche, and dessert was good. I don't hold it against them, though. As we were finishing up, another couple was just sitting down next to us. One of them had been looking at the menu for a few moments when I heard her say 'butternut squash SOUP?' It occurred to me that those are the people who would normally go to Ansill (or some other 'fine dining' type place) for Valentine's day, and I'm sure they left very happy.

Xochitl isn't in the same league as snackbar, the Cantina, or 1601 in my opinion. *edited to add* By which I mean it's not as good as those places.

Ansill is doing a prix fixe tonight for valentine's day, you may want to call first and see if they are going to have room. Cantina los Caballitos is great and in SP. 1601 (10th and Tasker) has pretty good food as well.

John Colabelli is the publisher of Philly Style, no relation to James.

I actually found some at Mi Pueblito (I think that's the spelling), on Passyunk just south of Washington Ave. It made a delicious tortilla soup! Rick Nichols also mentioned in an article a place at 8th and Tasker called La Acapulquena that has fresh epazote.

Possibly, but I don't think so, if for no other reason than I would remember that name, since there's also a Ruby's Diner in Ardmore and the Ruby Tuesday chain. Or at least, that's how my brain memory works. I remember it being on the right side as I was on 322 going west (although on the map, it's really north). Counter service, large model train set/something similarly entertaining in the middle of the dining room. Can't remember anything else distinctive, other than reading a history of the place, and it was there for at least 20 years. Also not sure of when I will be taking that road again, so no luck that way. ← Ah, the train set rings a bell. The name of the place is "Jimmy John's Pipin Hot Sandwiches", I was there a couple years ago. As I recall there wasn't much special about the place, except that everything was dirt cheap. My milkshake was just a cup of runny ice cream. I definitely got what I paid for. I also noticed they were still serving "Freedom Fries".

Does anyone know at which Mexican grocery I may be able to find epazote? The nearest one to me is La Fortuna, Tasker and 13th (I think), but I don't recall ever seeing any fresh herbs there.

As HD73, Shacke, and others have said, there is no good reason to oppose this ban, unless you happen to own a restaurant or food manufacturing business. There is no reason for diners to want partially hydrogenated oils/trans fats. They were invented by the food industry to save themselves money: baked and fried goods produced with them last longer on store shelves, reducing waste, and they are cheaper than natural oils to fry with, so restaurants save a little money. There is nothing you can do with hydrogenated oils that you can't do with natural oils, the hydrogenated ones are just cheaper. In return for the pennies saved, the people who consume hydrogenated oils get higher bad cholesterol and lower good cholesterol, and maybe other health effects we don't know about yet because these substances haven't been around all that long. I do agree that most of the places we talk about on EG probably don't fry with these substances anyway, but part of the ban was that all cooking oils have to retain their labels, and that can't hurt.

I was there last week and also had the seven-course tasting, though we weren't guests of the chef. Not that it would have mattered, apparently. I agree that they definitely need to make the customer aware of the exorbitant price up-front. If I remember correctly, the regular menu was much more reasonable, entrees were $15 - $28 or so. The tasting price is way beyond what you might expect based on the regular menu prices. In light of the fact that you can now have a prix-fixe at Le Bec-Fin for the same money, they definitely have to deliver something special. I don't think they did, though my complaints are a bit different. I should say that I don't think the prix-fixe at Le Bec-Fin is worth $90 either, but you do also get all the other parts of the old-school fine dining experience there. My main problem (other than the price) was the main ingredients of the dishes. We had a seven-course tasting. The last two of those courses are cheese and dessert, so that leaves five 'main' courses. The first three courses that came out were scallop, oyster (the risotto), and langostino. I'm not big on shellfish, especially oysters. I like a well-done scallop once in a while, and this one was well-done, but for three of our five courses to be based on shellfish seems ridiculous when there are so many other delicious types of animals, fungi, and plants to be had. Preparing 60% of a tasting menu based on shellfish puts way too much faith in the assumption that your guests are crazy about shellfish, and we hadn't expressed a preference for them. The only explanation I can come up with is that they got some very good shellfish that day and wanted to show them off/use them up. But for $90 per person, they could have asked if we'd mind having half of our dishes consist of shellfish. The only dishes Bigboss and I both had were the risotto and the hanger steak. I found the risotto a bit too crunchy (undercooked) and lacking the creaminess you normally get from agitating the rice constantly. As I mentioned I don't care for oysters, so this one wasn't a big hit with me. They do use carnaroli in it, though. While the hanger steak didn't blow me away, I did like it, though based on Bigboss' description it seems like ours was just prepared better. I liked the smoked potatoes a lot, but again, what Bigboss describes sounds different than what we got. One thing I did really love was the slow-cooked pork. I believe that it's prepared by roasting the meat for a very long time at a temperature just a bit higher than what you'd like the final cooked temperature of the meat to be. However it was done, it was a great piece of pork. Anyway, if anyone decides to go, just order off the regular menu. It's a lot cheaper, and the items on the regular menu that caught my eye interested me a lot more than what I ended up getting with the chef's tasting. The tasting just isn't worth the price they're charging, I'd rather go across the street to Molcajete Mixto for three dinners. I should add that I'll probably go back to James. They had only been open for a week or maybe 10 days when I went, and the dishes I had that were not shellfish were good enough to bring me back, especially the pork. I definitely won't be doing the chef's tasting again, though.

The best fish I've gotten in the city has come from Ippolito's, on Dickinson just east of Broad St. They're the retail arm of Samuels & Son. I am no expert, though, so I can't say how their fish compares to any of the purveyors you mention. They are usually better than Whole Foods, though.

Well, I wouldn't, a lot of those places are excellent restaurants. Unless you mean you just want to sacrifice the me-too imitators. And of course, the main reason we have so many BYOBs is the high cost of a liquor license, which is a huge expense for a husband-and-wife operation. It's certainly not because restaurant owners hate charging 400% markups on wine.

I have thought about the Induc'Inox line, but the copper disc (or aluminum, for that matter) design is more usable on a wider variety of heat sources, which is important to me because I am stuck with an electric cooktop for at least several months yet, and also because I may not always be cooking on induction. The Induc'Inox doesn't have a layer of aluminum or copper to spread the heat around, which means that while it's great for induction, it will probably have hot spots when used on a gas or conventional electric source. I'm also not sure what the benefit is of the carbon steel extending up the sides of the pan, I was under the impression that the magnetic field generated by an induction hob only acts on the bottom of the pan that sits atop it. Is that right? I suppose my decision really depends on how much better the Induc'Inox line performs than the Magnum Pro line (or another copper or aluminum disc design), when they are both actually used on an induction hob. If the carbon steel core of the Induc'Inox is head and shoulders above the magnetized steel disc on the Magnum Pro, then it would be worth it to me to just wait till I actually have an induction hob to upgrade my cookware, and not worry about when I may have to use it on a gas or electric hob. Unfortunately, information on induction is kind of hard to come by online, let alone objective comparisons of the various lines of induction-compatible cookware.

Does anyone here actually own and use any of the Sitram Magnum Pro, Profiserie, or Paderno Grand Gourmet lines on an induction hob? I am going to be doing a little kitchen remodeling, and an induction cooktop is on the list. I have been researching cookware for the past few months and this thread has been very helpful, but I haven't seen much information on induction-compatible cookware. From what I've been able to figure out, the three lines above are all induction compatible, and sturdy pieces besides. For now, I'm looking to pick up a saute pan (probably 11" or so), a 3-qt. sauce pan, and maybe a small saucepan with a spout for melting butter and warming up small amounts of liquids. I am leaning towards the Sitram Magnum Pro line right now, thanks to its copper core. It seems to me that if I'm going to be cooking on induction, with its near-instantaneous temperature changes, I should get the most responsive cookware I can to take advantage of it. That means a copper/stainless disc rather than aluminum, which rules out the Paderno and Sitram Profiserie. The only worries I have about the Magnum Pro line (and I'd appreciate the opinion of anyone who owns them) are these: 1. The handles. I've read conflicting information about their construction, riveted or welded. All the photos I've seen suggest they're welded (which I would prefer), but in this post, dillybravo states that someone at Sitram says they're actually riveted. Which is it? 2. The visible copper disc on the bottom of the pan. In the photos I've seen, like this one, the center of the disc is not covered in magnetic stainless steel. I don't actually have induction yet, but it seems to me that that small exposed copper area would reduce the amount of energy that gets into the disc, because that copper area is not affected by the induction coils like the rest of the disc. I realize it's a small percentage of the surface area on, say, a large saute pan, but if the exposed part is the same size on all the pans, then the small saucepan must have 10% - 20% of its bottom taken up by the exposed copper disc. It seems like a dumb design decision if I'm right about the exposed copper area not responding to the induction coils, but I don't know if it would make any appreciable difference in the performance of the pan.

I was there last night and had the cemitas al pastor, it was just too much. I made the mistake of eating the whole thing and I regretted it later. The roll is just too much bread! It's very good bread, but I still prefer the tacos. The plain corn tortilla really lets the filling shine. If you want to add avocado, that bowl of green sauce they bring has bits of avocado in it. We also had the choriqueso, which I agree is too much cheese, not enough chorizo. Can anyone tell me what that white liquid is in the jet-spray machine near the kitchen? It looks like the fermented pineapple juice I've had in another tacqueria.

I miss Verge, formerly of East Falls. I went when they first opened, they were closed within a couple of months. They must've incurred too much debt refurbishing the space, it was beautiful inside. It was especially bad at the time considering that the only other decent place in the neighborhood, Sprigs, had recently been replaced with a sports bar. Booth's Corner is still around, but only open Friday and Saturday.

No way, definitely not.

If that's correct, it's one of the most ridiculous policies I've heard of. They may make more money this way, but it's incredibly disrespectful to their clientele. I don't want to stand around like a schmuck waiting to pounce on an open table, and I want to be able to enjoy my food without people peering over my shoulder. ← I spoke to the person who told me that, she said that they got it from other patrons waiting to sit down, who told her that 'this guy over here is next, then us, then you' or something along those lines. I can't imagine where they were waiting, there's hardly any standing room by the door. She tried to get the attention of a bartender but couldn't, they didn't hang around to see what happened. As she pointed out, though, the place has only been open for a few days, they may not have worked this out yet. They definitely aren't taking reservations, though.

If this is true, Snackbar may be the first restaurant to honor it's No reservation policy which I applaud. A lot off restaurants in the city engage in that very annoying habit of taking people's names for a table which is completely absurd because what you are in fact doing is taking "reservations in person". It's not the same thing. When someone is standing there at the restaurant and you take their name down, all the restaurant is doing is saving their place in line. There is much less chance of a cancellation when the diners are actually standing there waiting, and even if someone gets tired and leaves, the restaurant can just go down to the next party on the list. I understand that restaurants don't really like reservations from a business standpoint because the tables aren't full 100% of the time they could be full, but there's a difference between not taking reservations and not making sure that the party that was there first gets seated first. The Standard Tap has (or had, I heard they changed it) the exact same seating policy, and what you describe was the exact problem with it. With their two floors, you could be there waiting for 20 minutes, roaming around waiting for someone to get up, and someone who came in 2 minutes ago who happened to be in the right place could get a table before you. Not only that, but it makes the people who are already seated really uncomfortable having roving packs of would-be diners eyeing them to try and figure out if they're ready to leave or not. The problem is that you could be waiting there for 45 minutes and someone significantly less courteous than you can come up and if they happen to be between you and a table when it empties, you're SOL. We really liked the polenta and the wasabi apples. The pork belly was tasty, but ours was almost entirely fat, I see from Philadining's photos that yours was quite a bit leaner, which I think I would've liked better. We had the same desserts, I didn't care much for the financier but the chocolate cake was really good (I don't say that about many chocolate cakes).

Not only that, they also will not take your name for a table if you walk in, so you're basically reduced to the 'hovering' or 'vulture' seating method, where you stand around and look at all the diners till it looks like one is getting up, then swoop in. Ugh. I realize it fits with their 'snack bar', small plate, in-and-out method, but it makes it impossible to plan to go there. Which stinks, because I was there on Friday and the food was fantastic. The wasabi pea-crusted apple was particularly great. edit: I guess I should say 'supposedly they will not take your name', since I heard that secondhand.