R Washburn

I usually make a cheese pastry crust with (IIRC) Gruyere cheese (85g), butter (112g), all-purpose flour (185g), 3/8 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp baking powder, 1/2 Tbs vinegar and 2-3 Tbs ice water. The recipe is from Rose Beranbaum's Cheddar crust recipe in "The Pastry Bible", substituting Gruyere for cheddar and ommitting the cayenne pepper. Essentially it is a cheese straw recipe.

I liked it better when he was at the Fountain, but it is a pretty good brunch. Brunch at LaCroix is a bit too expensive for me, and certainly not worth a trip frm NY, but his breakfast buffet is a very good value relative to the other center city hotels.

Was it the Stage Door deli on 8th ave, or the more famous Stage Deli on 7th ave?

I need help making gianduja. Can anyone post a detailed recipe plus some tips? Should I be using cocoa butter instead of cream? My first attempt was basically combining milk chocolate ganache with praline powder, and it bore little remblance to the ultra-creamy product you encounter in commercial chocolates.

I am surprised at your problems with security. It is a good thing nobody complained about my parrot the last time I stayed there or they might have sent security in to throttle him I am not surprised the fries were frozen. Even when Jean-Marie Lacroix was in charge he made a point of using much less expensive ingredients for room service, the Swan, and the banquet line relative to The Fountain. Don't expect "Fountain" level food from room service. Maybe you should stay at the Rittenhouse next time? If so you can see whether Jeans-Marie uses fresh cut fries for room service.

Herme adds the hazelnuts with the sugar in the food processor and it seems to really help keep them from turning into hazelnut butter. The book I was referring to was his Chocolate Desserts book which is the subject of a monster thread in this forum. You should also try the tip of drying the daquoise for a long time at a low temperature. It seems to result in a much crispier meringue.

Thank you for the clarification Mr. Telepan. I thought people were misunderstanding the policy. I am looking forward to trying "Telepan" soon. I have been hearing very good things about it.

Rose Beranbaum uses cornstarch in her daquoise recipe (see "The Cake Bible"). I also think that Pierre Herme's tip of grinding the nuts in the food processor with the sugar is helpful; the nuts release less oil. I was tempted to make my mushrooms out of hazelnut daquoise this year because it tastes so much better then meringue. I will do so next year.

They will if you ask for it at JG. The table next to mine this past Friday went through alot of olive oil, and they were NOT regulars.

Then don't call them. I bet that they will call you before they give the table away. If they DO fail to honor the reservation make a big stink about it.

Patrick, Which of Herme's desserts are you going to make again? So far the Pave, Plaisir Sucre and the Daiquoise are my "winners".

That is a big step up from "Le Cirque's" policy of not honoring your reservation, until all the regulars who walk-in are seated. I have had more than one restaurant request a confirmation. but they always ended up calling me as well. I doubt they will give away your reservation without calling you.

But Mix was closed for underperforming as well. Maybe he is good at bars but not at managing more serious restaurants.

1) I don't think it is worth it if you are only doing a couple of pounds of chocolate at a time, but I have never used one. 2) I buy the calets of Callebaut in bulk for ~$3/# ($2.83/# at Fairway last year, if you bought a whole case). I like Varhona but it tends to be at least twice the price. I haven't used Ghiardelli, but that price sounds very attractive.

I spent a good half-hour talking to her at the "Gourmet Magazine" superbowl party at Blue Smoke a couple of years ago, and she is incredibly nice. I am looking forward to the new show.

Yes, the problem with negative reports is that if you didn't like a restaurant on your first visit, you are unlikely to return. My only experience at "One If By Land..." was okay, but not enough to draw me back, and the other reports I read here are consistent with my experience.

If I had an experience like that at "One If By Land.." it would probably by "our" special occasion restaurant, at least for our anniversary. As it is I have to judge it on its own merits since it isn't doesn't have any special meaning for us. No wonder you are so fond of the place. Maybe "One If By Land.." is the best restaurant in NYC for a proposal, but only "fair" foodwise?

I thought I was just being honest. Do most people choose "One if By Land, Two If By Sea" for the food, or the setting? No, I would place it between the two. I have had some pretty good meals at Cafe des Artistes as well as some very poor ones. I can't say that any of those restaurants make my personal "top 100", but that doesn't mean that "One If By Land, Two if by Sea" is a bad restaurant. Taste is subjective; plenty of people here think that my favorite restaurant (Daniel) serves terrible food. I strongly disagree.

Do you need to use a probe type thermometer for oil? Will a surface reading laser thermometer work? I was hoping to use one just for this purpose. I would think the temperature of the oil would be pretty uniform.

I am making a pumpkin roulade filled with cranberry jam and chestnut mousse from Georges Perrier's Le Bec-Fin Recipes The only substitution I am making is that I am using homemade chestnut puree instead of canned.

Which NYC restaurants are your favorites? NY is deeper in pretty much every category than Philadelphia, although there are some relative bargains in Center City vs. Manhattan. Surprisingly, a lot of the high end dining is actually pricer in Philadelphia vs. New York IMHO. Sarcone's (both Deli and Bakery), Brasserie Perrier (for bar menu), and La Croix get most of my business when I am visiting Philadelphia. I would say that Sarcone's is the only Philadelphia institution I really wish I could transplant to NY. I used to miss Tony Luke's but we are now innundated with cheese steak places including a clone of Tony Luke's.

Plus all that free stuff. Doesn't sound like it was a bad deal by NY standards. I spent more on a crappy steak, hashbrowns and a beer over at Smith&Wollensky's Grill the other day with no freebies.

It sounds like you agree with Michelin placing Daniel in the top three restaurants for "luxury". Do you think Daniel should have been awarded three stars for food?

Demand for organic milk outstrips supply, and therefore the price carries a huge premium, at least in NYC. Where Doc lives there is no difference in price.

They are in that summary of the FDA data published in Science back in 1990. They were very thorough in examining the IGF-1 issues. Rats are, if anything, an unfairly sensitive model since they have receptors for BGH, whereas Humans do not. To them it is a hormone, to us rBGH is just food. One interesting thing coming out of this story, aside from the fact that rBGH milk may be one of the safest foods on the market, is the "money trail". rBGH milk in my neighborhood costs $2.99/gallon whereas Organic milk is $3.69 /half gallon or $7.38/ gallon. This must translate into a tiny profit for Monsanto (a few cents a gallon?) but what looks like an enormous profit for the organic milk producer. All this fear mongering by the anti-BGH crowd is fueling enormous profits by the Organic milk producers, which would be lost if rBGH was banned. Of course there is zero chance of the FDA banning rBGH milk, since it has passed every conceivable test with flying colors.