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Jeez, I didn't know this was a law?!? I thought they learned their lesson with the over easy eggs debacle. I'll risk it. We're a pretty high end private club after all. A member can have it any way he/she wants it. The law is a ass. Go figure?(scratching head) Nick

I don't think there's a law here about temperature. I buy freshly ground beef from my butcher. He grinds it day of delivery. I purchase in 10 pound bags and make 8-9 ounce burgers the day it comes in. The burgers are then frozen and slacked out daily for service. Those not sold end up as staff meal. Burgers aren't a large part of my ala carte business, so this method works for me. Volume burgers for events such as a club barb-que are purchased freshly made in 6 oz. patties. I just purchased 240 of these for Mondays bar-b-que. Mine are a high fat content burger (I like the flavor). These are CRY-O-VAC'ed after grinding so they are supposed to last up to three weeks. I use them within 1. The brand is M&W. Not a bad burger, tastewise. I haven't made a decision about irradiated beef yet. Isn't there a thread in Cooking with a good reference to a recent Gastronomica article? Smoked Gouda next to the Chocolate...bright move. Nick

I'm all over it, Lou. But I need to get a Monday off. Two major Golf outings and 1 major Break the Fast dinner is what my September future holds for me. I think I have 1 Monday at the end of the month. I'll see you at the NY get-together. Anchor Steam on tap!! WOW!! Thanks Nick

Why yes it is. Exactly the same chain. The one in San Francisco is in partnership with the person who designed the restaurant (Pat Kuleto, also of Kuleto's). On the east coast = McKormick and Schmicks. The Clam Chowder isn't as good as Legal Seafoods. Wonder if they'll have Anchor Steam on tap? I know I know. I answered my own question. But I had to go to san francisco to do it. Nick

Glenn, I think that if the charges were disputed thay'd be voided. I don't think (just based on pereipheral scuttlebutt) that restaurants can aactually charge your credit card for this. Anybody out there with more precise info? ediot. Teach me to scan rather than read. Thanks Glenn Nick

Chock Full O' Nuts Nick

Infant eh. Oh yeah! me too! Nick

Thanks Shivs, thanks FG. Nick

I don't know jin. That high pitched squeal was accompanied by a frenzied scramble out of the pot. Convinced me to dispatch them first. Got more info? I've heard the pressure escaping thing. It seem to me you would get that squeal even if plunged into boiling water (the pressure thing). Is there a link that describes the noise? edit: okay, read the rest of the thread. But it sur is bloodcurdling. Nick

You may not see it for the same reason I'm afraid to serve it. It causes diarhea in some. I served it once in smallish portions. After reading, i decided it wasn't worth the risk (I play to a captive audience). Nick

Jeez i thought this was just finger meat. You know cut from between some ribs. Like the boneless ribs you get at chinese takeout places. Nick

Is this an offshoot of the same McCormick that owns a bunch of places in San Francisco (i.e. McCormick and Kuleto among others)? Nick

I don't know if I told this story here or elsewhere. On a trip to Morrocco, I had sport haggling over a cheap brass elephant from a small boy on the streets of Tangiers. I think I got him down to 25 dhiram(sp) from an inital asking price of 50. At 10 dhirham per dollar...well you do the math. When it was pointed out to me that i just spent 20 minutes haggling a kid out of food money for his family (and over 2.50 US at that). Well I felt like shit. So I like Tommy's across the board 20 percent. It's about what I usually tip This applies where appropriate. I tip waiters, counter people in diners , my barber, my mailman, my garbagemen. The guys who handwash my car, and wherever I feel it is deserving. Anyone who, I feel, has gone above and beyond in the performance of what I expect their duties to be. It does not, generally speaking, include the counterpeople at Starbucks, Dunkin' Donut's, my drycleaner or any fast food establishment. Nick

Waiter with passing tray: "Steamed Chinese Pork Bun sir?" Gentleman: "What's inside it?" Bartender (laughing, sotto voce): "Shrimp" Really, truly! Nick

Rare osso bucco. Anyone else get this one? This has happened several times. Nick

Okay, related. I'm a participant in the New Jersey Seafood Challange. This is oh back about 1987-88 or so. Remember now that the now ubiquitous 'Seared Ahi (insert preparation style here)', was a rather cutting edge type of dish. So I pick a a "Seared Tuna" over a tmato apple compote with cilantro and scallion. Okay...pretty cool so far. I start prepping (lose points for neatness, I am kinda sloppy) and manage to finish the dish. The judging starts. The judge is one of those older, portly, old school German Chefs. You know ACF, ramrod up his arse, knows everything, major Atlantic City casino Hotel Executive Chefs, whose been in the business since the flood. You pros know the type. Well to cut to the chase I finish LAST! The very public critique goes along the lines of..."and this dish...well the fish was...RAW!" Now I don't get pisse. I merely close my eyes and shake my head. Later i go up to the Chef/God and quietly tell him that the fish in the dish was supposed to be raw. He just looks at me and says that you can't serve fish raw. I cut my losses and left. Telling myself that if I EVER EVER become like this guy as an older Chef, then I pray that my staff has the wherewithal to take me out and put a bullet behind my ear. Nick

I kinda sorta agree. Let me qualify thpough. I generally won't order the prosaic, "we gotta have a steak on the menu, so let's put a wet aged NY sirloin on it" ubiquitous beef that passes for steak on many restaurant menus. However for a truly great piece of 28-40 day prime dry aged porterhouse, t-bone or rib chop, I feel thast the best meat is in a good steakhouse. They have or have access to the facilities that can age the meat properly and also have their reps at stake (no pun) when it comes to selecting the loins to age. Nick

yup! fer sure, fer sure. Cape is right. I have no problem ordering specials in restaurants. But many of us can sort of smell a place or can tell by the description of a special whether or not it'll be worth ordering. Having said that, and to answer your question, I will never order a (insert fish name HERE) fish dish Arribiatta. If the fish is pristine the Arrabiatta topping will ruin it and, IMO is uneccessary. If the fish is less than pristine, the Arrabiatta is used to cover it up and I ho wants to eat old fish anyway? The resaturants that do this (attempt to reutilize and rcycle old food) only do a diservice to themselves and ultimately it is the chefs and cooks who have their reputations sullied. It takes a pretty experienced guy to be able to pick and choose which leftover to rcycle and which not to. Look at it this way: You are the COOK! And you are saying that you wouldn't eat it if you were a diner in a restaurant. Why the F*ck shoud I. Ask your chef to think about that before he hashes something onto a plate merely to fill up a specials board or to satisfy some F&Bs wish for a lower food cost number! Nick

spqr asked: Oh, I always feel constrained to cater to the membership. After 8 years , I feel I've gotten to know them pretty well. We only get a little daring on the weekend menus. Thursday is a BBQ buffet for families, Sunday is a Buffet dinner, again for families, but with much kids food done (mac-n-cheese, white castle sliders, popcorn shrimp, chicken fingers etc.). Wednsday we lighten the ala carte menu up to include several sandwiches anf fun food apps. We also tone down the mains. Straightforward plate garnishes, such as mashed potatoes, saffron rice. It's on Friday, and barring an event, Saturday that we get the greenmarket stuff and the FedEx fish and all the special and interesting ingredients. The membership response has been good, so to answer your question, I feel less constrained to cook for them and more likely to cook for my sous Chefs and myself. That will continue until the members want it to change. You hit a nail precisely on the head, FG. One of the reasons I initially became involved in the charity work (SOS, second harvest stuff), was to selfishly stay connected. I'm sure my posting of menus and, for that matter, my participation on eGullet.com are also efforts to remain in the loop. If only slightly. This is an ego-driven business after all. There is lots of instant gratification involved. As far as your suggestion is concerned, it can be done, but club memberships are a notoriously privacy seeking lot (one of the reasons for joining a club, particularly a, so called, high end one). I would venture that one would have to seek the permission of the Boards of Directors involved. Particulary before writing a piece in a public medium. It would be easier if you palyed golf. Then your group could make a day of it.I still like the suggestion though, as clubs are perceived as places where old chefs go to die, and in the process serve some pretty gnarly food. I'll bring it up with the prez tomorrow (we're playing golf. See, I've been here a while.). I don't know if you remember these places, but Pascal Dirringer (Prunelle), and Michelle Fitoussi (The Palace), are both currently club chefs. I'm sure there are many others, but i don't know them. Thanks for all the interest folks Nick

AS I said, It was described to me as 'farm-raised' from NZ. Perhaps not native, but maybe there is a burgeoning aquaculture industry. When you mentioned it, things clicked. I was trying to place the flavor, and yes!, It was a couple of cents shy of being muddy, or grassy tasting. Not overly so, but related. BTW the leftovers were served this evening on a buffet and the response was pretty good. Nick

The dish (scallops) sounds like...I want to eat it right now! What are sun blush tomatoes? Nick

Capedchef asked: Could only get two kinds this week. Black trumpets de mort and some pretty nice looking chanterelles. I use chicken stock to make the risotto. I considered using some dried cepes or dried morels, but opted not too. The flavors are a bit more intense but I can always tell when a dried shroom is used. I didn’t think they would balance with the fresh ones. FG wrote: No we use the par method. The same one you wrote about on Fat-Guy.com. I have tasted both and fresh made is superior. However as this was an appetizer, I couldn’t justify a 20/25 minute wait for the dish. Par works just fine particularly in this case. Depending on the type of risotto or what it will be used for, will determine what ingredients will go into it. This risotto was finished with all but the cream. I rarely use heavy cream in risotto. If the risotto is to be used for seafood, I will use a good fumet with the chicken stock and omit the parmesan. I generally use a white mirepoix when making this dish. FG also wrote: Saffy wrote: Baramundi: Interesting fish. Cooks and I thought it was like mildly flavored bluefish. The skin was quite tough so I skinned the fish before cooking. We served it with essentially a tomato beurre blanc with roasted tomato stirred in. Sauced the fish sparingly as the richness of the fish coupled with the beurre blanc may not work. In the amounts I used it did work. Saffy: the fish was touted by my Maine fish guy. He told me that it was farm raised from NZ. It was a tasty fish which sold reasonably well. I’ll ask about the Ruby reds. He does sell a 16-20 Fresh Gulf Shrimp (head off). The reds are called: “Deepwater Ruby Red Prawns” Pancetta Lardons are simply battonet (well a reasonable approximation of battonet) Cut from an unrolled piece of Pancetta, which are then sautéed until crisp. Macrosan—My Anna potatoes are more of a ‘take’ on the dish. I single shingle crosswise cut russet potatoes on a buttered sheetpan. Cook in a hot oven until crisp but ever so slightly pliable. Lift and mound them together with a spatula. For the onions use a Maui sweet or a Vidalia. Cut crosswise into slices. Then we season the top and roast them. When charred around the edges it means they’re done. Yes, you can have them without the steak. I truly enjoyed answering your questions. Thank you for indulging me. Nick

FG said: Malawary said: Malawary’s right, FG. We do have a dining room food minimum which during the summer must be met monthly. So we try to give ‘em a good experience. They are the owners after all. Each and every one of the 300+ members, their families and their guests. I am also permitted to run a fairly high food cost. (currently around 52%). My bottom line is member satisfaction, not a dollar amount. We are not here to make a profit. And with an IQ of about 140, your second supposition may be true also. FG wrote: FG: we use u-10 white shrimp (under 10 pieces of shrimp per pound). They are From Mexico and points south along the pacific coast. They arrive in 50 pound cases block frozen in 5 pound boxes. We slack and cook them in the shell in court bouillon for approx. 4-5 minutes. Then quickly shock until chilled. Do not let sit in water as the flavor of the court bouillon will leach out. Then we peel them. I’ve never had our cocktail sauce called sweet. But it is rather prosaic. Catsup, chili sauce, horseradish, lemon etc. etc… Malawary also said: CathyL wrote: The sauces for the crab cocktail were cocktail sauce, saffron aioli, and wasabi mayonnaise. A dollop of each around the lump crab. Malawary: Yes. The shrimp cocktail stays. I’m waiting on some new plates so that I can change the presentation. Other things that stay week to week are steak, veal chop, lamb chops and roast chicken. From the fish side: salmon. Caesar salad and the ubiquitous chopped and mixed green salads stay also. We also do a tri-color and a mesclun lettuce salad that we play with re the presentation. The Tuna is an interesting dish. We served the loin sliced over a mixed heirloom salad. The tomatoes were delivered by my market guy from the Union Square market at 2:00 PM. So the dish was set at that time. The tuna was set up in a non-acidic marinade of lemon basil, lemon thyme, greek oregano, garlic, shallot and olive oil. We sliced it into about ¼ “ thick slices that we draped over the tomatoes. Accompany with small fingerlings, which were split, pan-grilled and then slow roasted. When cool we tossed the potatoes in aioli sauce. The dish was garnished with bronze fennel tops and drizzled with laudemio olive oil. I thought the dish very summery also. I served it as a main because I thought a cold dish such as this would work, in light of the recent hellish weather we’ve been having. Thanks for the questions Nick

Isn’t Foie gras a wonderful thing! This dish evolved. First let me preface by saying that the sourcing for the menus generally start on Tuesday (sometimes on the previous Sunday). I buy a 'new‘ item; 5 pounds of Argentinean pink shrimp, about 21-25 size (number of pieces per pound). I put them in a pasta dish on Wedsnday, but they don’t sell. So they’re laying about and I give them to my Sous Chef “maybe we can come up with a bar hors douevre on Friday”. Friday rolls around and I’m at my work table writing the menu. It’s only going to be in place for one night as Saturday is a special event. I’ve ordered a raft of different ingredients including a lobe of Foie Gras. The Foie usually comes off the cold side, so I talk to ‘Ken’ one of my Sous Chefs. I tell him that I think we should pan sear a thick piece this week. He agrees, but we’re stymied for a garnish. We start running down the different fruits that are in or coming in that day. We’ve pretty much exhausted the possibilities and we don’t feel like repeating ourselves. Ken asks “what about those pinks that didn’t sell wedsnday? I’ve got that bag of Panko that we bought last week and didn’t use. Why don’t I crust them and serve a couple with the Foie?” I arch my eyebrows but as I really trust this guy’s palette, I start thinking about it. Why not? I ask myself. It seems better and better, the more I think about it. These shrimp are very tender, in fact if you overcook them even a little they turn to mashed potatoes. We’re still looking for a sweet taste to complement. I remember that I have a coconut/pineapple sauce that I tarted up with red chili vinaigrette with sliced scallions and chopped cilantro. We’re thinking we need one more texture. Ken says rice paper. I say done, only fry it. It’ll give a different cripness to the dish than the panko. I think we need some purple shiso watercress and kumquats somewhere, but we didn’t have. Just as well. This dish was fast approaching 'over the top' and it wasn't gonna take much more to push it there. As for the wine, I leave that to people who are more competent than I, such as yourself. That’s the evolution of the dish. It was served for one night only and we only sold one. Go figure. We liked it. Thanks for the questions Nick

Unfortunatly, Yes! Not to worry. It will prolly continue to be a lot of different places in the future! Definition of "Restaurant": Method for turning a large fortune into a small one. Nick