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ngatti

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Posts posted by ngatti

    Your First Cookbook

    in Cookbooks & References

    Posted

    My first cookbook was actually a series of books put out by Time Life in the sixties called Foods of the World. These are still my favourite cookbooks. I think looking through these books so young is what made me want to cook more than any outside factor. The torte on the cover of the Vienna book set on an elaborate cake stand next to a silver coffee pot and a bowl of whipped cream is spectacular. If anyone can get theri hands on those books, do. I still use them for research and inspiration. I recently spotted the whole set at a garage sale for $2!

    Ahhh...Great minds and such.

    My first cookbook was "Classic French Cooking" from that series.

    That and "The Cooking of Provincial France" from the same series.

    Classic was written by Pierre Franey and Craig Claiborne. I worked briefly in the Time Life bookstore in their building in NYC.

    What a world it opened up for me.

    Nick

    Off the Menu at 15 Restaurants

    in Restaurant Life

    Posted

    "Off the menu" will have different impact according to the off-menu dish ordered and the structure of the restaurant operation.

    If there is sauteed halibut with lemon sauce etc on the menu, then an order for plain grilled halibut is simplicity itself for the kitchen, it will require no special skilled attention, and it will reduce the work involved in preparing the dish. If the roles of the dishes are reversed, then the off-menu order requires a cook who knows how to make the sauce and compose and cook the dish, and it creates additional work and management attention.

    If the off-menu order is for a sauced steak dish, and there is neither steak nor that sauce on today's menu, then this raises the question of availability of ingredients, in addition to the time and attention to basic preparation of those ingredients.

    For a high-end kitchen, some of these requests will be doable but are likely to cause organizational and management problems in the kitchen (however minor those might be). Some requests may not be doable at all, especially if the chef is concerned about being able at short notice to produce the quality level demanded by the restaurant.

    There are also the front of house issues. The server who takes the order must understand clearly what is required by the customer, and unless the server has culinary knowledge this may be difficult. The server needs to communicate the request accurately to the chef. Someone needs to price the dish and this price needs to be relayed to and agreed by the customer, and then recorded accurately (maybe thru a computer system) so that it appears correctly on the final check. 

    So the whole issue of off-menu orders at the very least will place a strain on the operation of a restaurant. The important question is why would you want to do that to a restaurant that you like enough to dine in, and you go to often enough to believe they should accede to your off-menu request ?

    Well if it's a test of the restaurant, then it's foolish. If it's just to establish your own status as a favored customer, then it's pretentious. If it's for reasons of dietary restriction, then it's something that should be organized in advance of your visit, so it no longer represents any of the problems discussed above. So what does that leave ? Well, just the possibility that on a whim, when you arrive to dine, you just fancy a particular dish which just doesn't happen to be on the menu. If that's all it is, then it really can't be a problem if the restaurant says no.

    Of course, there do seem to be restaurants (according to some members here) that positively enjoy and encourage off-menu ordering, and then I would have few qualms about doing so. If this is the case, I cannot understand why such a restaurant would bother to print a menu. They might do better just toi list the main ingredients of the day, and let all their customers design their own dishes. But even in those cases, I would generally prefer to be adventurous, and be guided by the chef's judgement as expressed on his menu.

    Martin, there are many reasons why I like you. Most of them are contained in this post. :smile:

    Nick

    Anyone been to the Citrus Grill in Spring Valley?

    in New York: Dining

    Posted

    Thank you Rail!

    There are alot of very good places up here actually.  Some that come to mind include:<p>Roman Cafe, Saddle River Inn of course,  Esty Street and Robins.  I'd love to compare notes !

    If you mean the Robin's that used to be Jamies, then alas, it has been gone for some time now. It is now another Italian restaurant called Zanni.

    Nick

    St John

    in United Kingdom & Ireland: Dining

    Posted

    Had my fourth meal at St John last night, with Tony and Nick, and I was reminded why I like this place.

    It had been suggested that Saturday night would be less busy than weekdays, but by 8 or 8.30 the place was very full. Service was pleasant, helpful and timely throughout.

    I started with smoked sprats and horseradish sauce. Just that, no frills, no bits of coloured veg to decorate the plate. This was a taste from my childhood, and it was perfect. I suppose it could be argued that all the restaurant does is buy the smoked sprats, make some horseradish sauce and stick it on a plate at £6 a time (I remember the debate about pea pods!!!) but that's fine with me.

    I was tempted by the lamb special (but that was for three people) but I settled for another special of poached chicken and leek. The chicken was tender and moist, with a good texture, but overall I found this blander than I expected. I thought the leek would raise its flavour, but if anything it just blended into a mild, albeit pleasantly flavoured, monochromatic dish.

    The dessert was a killer rhubarb crumble (brilliant) with custard (lovely taste but I prefer it barely falling off the spoon).

    We had a bottle or more of Viognier white, followed by one or two bottles of house red. Pleasant drinking.

    The discussion was lovely, the company pleasant, the atmosphere relaxed, and the food excellent. Yes, I reminded myself why I like St John so much  :smile:

    Well after being pleasantly urged by jinmyo to "eat guts" on this trip, I find that i did...literally. The pork chit'lins were pretty tasty. These seem to have been marinades and char-grilled. The charred grill marks giving a very pleasant flavor to the meat. I've never eaten chit'lin and was surprised at how meaty and tender these were. Some proper mustard and a side of mashed complete the dish.

    For apps I felt that i coudn't pass on the roasted marrow (a house specialty). Four very generous marrow bones, with toast and nicely flavored parsley and shaved shallot in a light vinaigrette. Yum!!. I also sampled the sprats and found them quite tasty.

    Dessert was a slab of Lancahire with an eccles cake (pie?). Also tasty.

    Great meal!! Thanks Tony, and thank-you Martin!!

    Nick

    Anyone been to the Citrus Grill in Spring Valley?

    in New York: Dining

    Posted

    Citrus Grill is in Airmont NY. A couple or three hundred yds north of the NY/NJ line on East Saddle River Road.

    Food is good. Once had 4 stars from the Record (whatever you think of the Record, they don't hand out the 4 star rating lightly). I don't know what their current rating is. The chef/owner, Steve Christiansen was, at one time, a partner in Cafe Panache. In fact, he opened it with Kevin Kohler.

    Nick

    Junior's

    in New York: Cooking & Baking

    Posted

    I'm a fan of ricotta cheesecake. Thanks for the tip. I did Juniors *again* this evening. More plain cheescake. Still there, still good. :smile:

    I don't know how much is just nostalgia. For four years I exited and entered that Dekalb Ave. Subway stop. A few years later I had an apartment on Hoyt and Pacific st, and used to go for Pastrami on twin onion rolls for lunch or Kippers and Eggs on Sunday morn. The cheescake and the resto became part of the fabric of my then existence. You know how these things go.

    Leshkos (pierogis) and the B&H (blintz's) in the East Village are two more of those places also.

    I've lately taken to dragging people around with me to sample the food of my memories.

    Nick

    Junior's

    in New York: Cooking & Baking

    Posted

    Stopped for a slice of plain and a cuppa joe. It had been a while, but I thought still as damn good as ever. Certainly worth a stop as part of a Brooklyn Safari.

    Anybody have cheesecake faves of their own that I'm missing, and should compare it to.

    Nick

    Sealing Butcher Block Counters/Wood Cutting Boards

    in Kitchen Consumer

    Posted

    Nick, I like different boards for different purposes. I own some of almost every imaginable type. But the ones I reach for most often are the cheap-ass ($9.99 at Amazon) Polysafe 14"x17" boards. These go on my Corian countertops and are secured with, as Chef Matt suggests, damp towels. The fit right in my dishwasher on the extreme left and right edges of the bottom rack. They are similar in bite to hard rubber -- not the same, but also somewhere between wood and hard acrylic.

    Yeah, I tend to go the utiliatrian, "form follows function" look myself. But these blocks sure are pretty (particularly Klink's), however you still need a stable surface *under* them. Nothing wobbly.

    Wet towels...Good truc. They'll also stabilize your board if used on a less than level surface.

    Nick

    Sealing Butcher Block Counters/Wood Cutting Boards

    in Kitchen Consumer

    Posted

    oooh, let me weigh in here.

    Tommy: Your block is really a cutting board. The wheels won't really allow any heavy work with a cleaver (the table will bounce) and the board itself isn't really thick enough to do the heavy work that a proper "butcher block" does. However. it is perfectly fine for all the day to day work that a home kitchen requires. You may wish to place a thin acrylic or wood board on top to do the bulk of your slicing and dicing. it's convenient and portable.

    The job of a proper butcher block is really to provide an immovable heavily weighted piece as a foundation to actual work. For instance, if pounding meats for scalopinne or carpaccio, you don't want the surface to be "bouncy". It creates more work. You particularly don't want it to be so if taking down sub-primals (cleaving racks of lamb or veal). It can be dangerous. You also want a very stable foundation when slicing and chopping. It lessons fatigue and just plain ol' feels better.

    Butcher blocks are expensive. My inclination is to use a cutting board. I have always used one whether using a proper "block" or a 3-4 inch wooden table top. The manufacturer may tell you to use it's surface as is, but then again, a swayback block needs to be sanded level or replaced more often.

    YMMV

    Nick

    Chez Panisse

    in California: Dining

    Posted

    Well I went to the restaurant last night and in short I LOVED it... :wub: We had a wonderful dining experience.  The menu was skillfully prepared.  I can say that I have had "finer" (Aqua, Hawthorne Lane, Everest and Trotters in Chicago) dinners, but this one ranks up there.  The service was very attentive.  And overall it was a very nice experience.  I would definately go back  :biggrin:

    :smile: <---(smug smiley) :wink:

    Nick

    ny times best of nj

    in New Jersey: Dining

    Posted · Edited by ngatti (log)

    I've eaten in various M&S establishments 5 times now.

    My experiences have ranged from terrific (SF) to 'less so' (again SF), to mediocre (3 times, all in Hackensack).

    The oysters are nice, fresh, and seasonal. The accompanying sauces are quite skippable. The main course fish dishes have been uniformly overcooked on each visit. The bar is nice, especially if you're there for beer and oysters. Desserts are big and cloying.

    My feeling is that if you want to dine in a chain seafood restaurant, then you'll be better off at Legal Seafoods. I've also been there 4 times and it is, IMO, much better. One of the best Lobster Rolls I've ever had (fresh 1&1/4-1&1/2 #) as opposed to M&S which serves one of the worst (tasted of thawed leftovers).

    edit: Legal does not have the variety of oysters that M&S does. So if that's your thing you'll be happier at M&S. But overall, service and general quality of fish preparation is better at Legal.

    YMMV

    Nick

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