phaelon56

I believe they roast there and you can pick up beans. Bittersweet Chocolate Cafe in Oakland uses Blue Bottle beans but their espresso drinks - although better than average - don't measure up to the quality served on the Blue Bottle carts or at the Hayes Valley kiosk.

A quote of a quote from the blog link upthread: Heck... why not just snort it? It would save so much time.... I'm guessing that their powder is probably a more refined and better quality version of the "frozen yogurt powder" that I referenced by ingredient list earlier in this thread. Apart from bad PR I find it hard to believe that Pinkberry will be in trouble for this. "Frozen yogurt" of a similarly dubious heritage has been sold throughout the US under that name for a few decades or longer and as far as I know it's never been challenged yet.

I wish I had real answers for you on the chocolate and coffee pairing idea. It's a concept - pairing chocolate with coffee and/or espresso - that gets kicked around here and there as a discussion item in the progressive specialty coffee biz but I don't know of anyone who's set up and done such a thing formally (it's probably happened but i just haven't heard about it). Like wines, each coffee varietal has its own unique set of characteristics. But due to the terroir factor even a single varietal may be dramatically different from one year to the next, one farm to the next and you'll even see variations from withindifferent lots produced by a single estate or farm in one growing season. Add to that the fact that if you get a generic varietal - e.g. Kenya AA from a growers co-op that mixes beans from many different farms versus a single estate varietal all produced by one grower on one farm - there is yet another factor that creates variations. The best publicly available cupping notes that cover current crops are to be found here: Sweet Maria's Coffee Cupping Reviews Despite a dearth of info on coffee/chocolate pairings there are some coffee and food pairings showing up. Here's the menu from the special Stumptown Coffee and Navarre Restaurant coffee dinner held in Portland OR 2006. I believe there is another one schedueld for this year (or it may have already happened - not certain about that).

Yes... if you want to meet local code and also ensure the safety of your house, yourself and your family then you'll have to retrofit the space in which it will be installed. That means firerock, mucho ventilation, quite likely a stainless steel backsplash on the bakc and or sides and also maybe even a fire supression system. I'm going through this same decision making process myself. I have a space large enough for a 36" range that still leaves 2" of clearance on each side and it's on an outtside wall. I'm looking at spending $1800 - $2000 on a gas range and hte commmercial units totally blow away the consuemr products at that price level.

All of the above... and I'm not being cheeky by saying that. However, it is safe to say that the best roasters obtain beans ifrom sources who ensure that all the steps of growing, processing, shipping and storage are done properly. And the best cafes source beans from the best roasters (or source and roast their own by similar standards). It may not surprise you to learn that some of the best roasters and coffee professionals in the field today have culinary backgrounds (Andrew Barnett of Ecco Caffe among them). Roasting is a culinary art, a science and a craft - the same can eb said of coffee preparation but most especially espresso preparation. If any single component in the long chain of processes is not done correctly - from soil preparation and maintenance all the way to choice of tools, grinding, tamping, pulling a shot and steaming the milk - the results will be less than stellar. No they do not ever achieve that now and I doubt that they ever will. Even in the very best and busiest cafes with the highest level of baristas working the bar - it is always a challlenge to maintain consistency - but it can be done in a single cafe or in by a multi-location independent operator. Espresso Vivace, Intelligentsia, Blue Bottle, Murky Coffee, Gimme Coffee, Spro and Stumptown Roasters come to mind when I think of quality driven multi-location independents who are doing it right. There are others but those are the ones I've visited personally who have at least two (and in some cases up to five) locations and are doing it the right way. Companies like Starbucks et al are able source high quality beans when they choose to but various factors such as an inability to get beans from the roaster into the cup in less then 14 days.... increasing use of automated equipment.... lack of adequate training or lack of ongoing training.... loss of focus due to a desire for increased sales of peripheral non-coffee related items.... the need to cut costs in pursuit of higher profits for increased stock prices of publicly held companies.... it's a really looooong list! Of the really big chains I've goten my most consistent experiences (in terms of cup quality) at Peet's locations. As big a factor as any (and this affects many middle of the road so-so quality independents as well) is the fact that the best coffee operations - roasters and cafes - are run and staffed by people who love coffee. Everything about it - from bean to cup. These are people who live and breathe coffee and are in for a love of and passion for the coffee business - not because it's the latest profit making bandwagon to jump on. I'm not naive or idealistic - many of us in the business have both a passion for coffee AND a desire to make a good return on investment and a very comfortable living. But I think you'll find many of the best people in the industry to be folks who got into it because they have a passion and the rewards followed by virtue of their dedication and hard work. Way, way too complex a topic to get into in a single forum post - not to mention that my knowledge in this area falls short of many. But a good place to get reading recommendations is from UK based coffee savant Jim Hoffman's Coffee Reading List. The Uker's book All About Coffee will have the best info about growing and processing, Schomer's book on Espresso Coffee Preparation is a concise guide (and fun read) for how great espresso is produced in a cafe environment and the Illy book Espresso Coffee: the Science of Quality lends great insight into how much stringent scientific research has gone into the pursuit of coffee andf espresso quality. What eje said

Or even more disappointed to find out that the $9 or $10 piece of cake came from Sysco or Bindi (and that scenario is far more common than most peopel would suspect - even in "nicer" restaurants). On an ingredients note... is it safe to assume that I can use unsweetened chocolate in place of bittersweet in a recipe if I increase the amount of sugar by a bit? I made brownies this weekend (first time ever making brownies and one of the only times I've ever made a dessert other than pies or fruit tarts). The recipe called for 8 oz of bittersweet chocolate and a cup each of dark brown and white sugar. I had only unsweetened chocolate so I guesstimated and increased each sugar by an 1/8 cup or a tad more. Tasted fine and was plenty sweet for me.

I just tried the Bounty Basic and it's a big thumbs down. They are too thin. Due to a unique sort of tetrahedral or geometeric pattern in the surface they seem to have reasonable strength but absorbency is the issue. They don't hold enough water. Generic grocery store paper towels and brands like Coronet are IMO a better value at that price point.

That's why I love the big burlap bag of Basmati rice I bought recently - it has a zipper across the top!. The dilemma now is that my new GF (as of six months ago) loves Jasmine rice and won't eat Basmati. I have a major surplus of Basmati...

I open many 150 lb burlap bags of green coffee beans every week - all bound with string of one sort or another. The ones that are closest in sewing style to bags of charcoal typically have a double loop in the string on one side of the bag and on the other side have a straight single run of thread. Cut through the double loop on one side about a half inch in from the end of the bag and exactly opposite that on the other side cut through the single thread. Now lift the loose end of the single thread and pull. If you chjose the right end to cut it will magically "unzip" the top of the bag. But you may have to repeat the process at the other end of the bag and pull that single thread from there. And then I have the bags.... Colombian, Papua New Guinea and a few others that just never open the way they're supposed to....

I'm not from SF but on my first visit to the Blue Bottle kiosk on Linden Street in Hayes Valley, Steve Ford - who now roasts for Ecco Caffe - made me a Gibraltar in a glass that, curiously enough (or perhaps not so curiously ), appears to be a smaller version of this: Libbey Gibraltar footed rocks glass If I recall correctly it the glass was about 5 oz. in size, conmtained a 1.5 fluid oz ristretto shot and was served with about 3 oz of steamed milk - more milk than a traditional machiatto but less than a traditional cappuccino.

Travertine tile? Are you absolutely certain? Here's a Travertine Tile FAQ that shares this tidbit I'm thinking that orange juice, vineagr etc. are fairly commono in kitchens. My employer just replaced the carpeting in the common areas of our building with an unglazed/matte tile that either is travertine or resembles it. He loves the "look of natural stone". It's been in for only six weeks and we're already finding scuff marks from the soles/heels of certain types of shoes, coffee stains that don't entirely come out when wiped up - and so on. They're already looking into sealing options. The last time I redid a house - and the first time I ever did tile work - I wanted to use natural Vermont flagstone in the foyer. My brotheer talked me out of it due to his knowlege of the need for sealing and ongoing maintenance. I opted for the Daltile Mardis Gras French Quarter tile. The color I chose (which isn't shown on this page) was subdued and the glaze has such a low sheen that it it had the look of natural stone. I used a contrasting colored grout (dark green) that never ever showed the dirt and wear. And all I ever did for maintenance was run a damp mop over it now and then. In both that house and my present home I have hardwood floors in the kitchen (#1 red oak although I'd prefer maple for a kitchen if I had my druthers). The hardwood has been terrific. I use some machine made oriental area rugs with non skid pads in the two work areas to reduce wear on the poly finish and provide some cushioning. Given a moderate amount of care (i.e. damp mopping regualrly with nothing but water that has a few drops of dishwashing detergent added to it) they have held up really well and loook great after years of use. And I've lost track of how many times I've dropped a plate, mug, glass etc. and watched them take a quick bounce but not break. Nice.

I actually prefer something that is a bit harder and absorbent but not too absorbent. And cost per sq foot is always a concern. Never did care for Bounty or Viva - even if they were on sale. I usually look for a sale on Scott's in the full size roll (the thinner diameter rolls have a cheaper per roll price but are a sucker bet on the per sq foot unit price). Scott's has, for me, the ideal balance of density, texture etc. If I use them to sop up water I can even leave them out on a dish rack or across the faucet stem overnight and reuse a few. But this past weekend I was shopping in my local Evil Empire store (don't blame me - target takes twice as long to get to form my house so I go there far less often). After doing a quick heads up on the various Scott's multi-pack pricing and even toying with the idea of giving Coronet yet another chance (despite the fact that thjey've broken my heart so many time before) - I spotted these: Bounty Basic Yes - Bounty is now going after the price sensitive paper towel shopper. It's about time. The unit price was not quite as low as the cheapest bargain brands but at first glance it appears to be a better product. I'll find out in a week or so when my current stock of Scott's runs out and I switch over.

Can you elaborate on this a bit? I just checked my county library system and they don't have access to this book or any other work by the author so I'm flying somewhat blind in this discussion. But my closest friend for the past 25 years happens to be African-American as is my significant other (a coincidence but it has given me an exposure to African-American family life that the typical Caucasian male rarely gets). If I think about his late mom, his sister, his aunts and cousins, my former and current girlfriends and their families etc. all of whom I've gotten to know pretty well... none of them owns or uses cookbooks - at least not a single one that I know of. Am I working from such a statistically insignificant sampling that no conclusion can be drawn from those facts or are cookbooks written by African-American authors purchased mostly by white folks? And do you think such cookbooks were or are written with a conscious or sub-conscious recognition of who the likely reader is and would that possibility affect the sub-text of the writing?

I recognize that there's some mildly sarcastic humor in those remarks but it is important to recognize that many people - most likely including a large number whon read and post in eGullet - have limitations on how often they get to enjoy higher end fine dining. It may be geographic location, time constraints due to family obligations, budgetary challenges or perhaps a combination of the above. For example... someone save up the hard earned ducats for a trip to NYC. They're paying airfare, exorbitant hotel prices, perhaps taking in a Broadway show or two and also planning to dine at a few good restaurants. If it was me (and at times it has been although NYC was not the city I visited) I'd research the heck out of the big budget splurge meal. I wouldn't go so far as "memorizing" reviews but I would do diligent research. Why not improve your chances of having a transcendant culinary experience when you rarely have the opportunity to do so? That said... when it comes to all the other meals (apart from the splurge meal) - that's where my sense of adventure kicks in. Few things, including spectacular haute cuisine meals, satisfy me as much as wandering around in a new city to window shop menus and try out a place I know absolutely nothing about. And those often end up being among my most memorable meals. My two most satisfying meals in recent years: 1) My "pre-5Oth birthday" dinner a year or so ago at Corduroy in Washington DC - researched the heck out of where to eat and I was rewarded in a big way. 2) Lunch at a no-name hole-in-the-wall dim sum place in Chinatown San Franciso a few months ago. We stumbled upon the place and stopped in on impulse.

This was my answer. Little girls like pink lemonade. ← As do many big boys.

Very few things are better than a traditional Carvel ice cream cake but the current product has minimal resemblance to what we served at Carvel back in the 1970's (and beyond but for how long I'm not certain). Back then it was interleaved layers of ice cream and sponge cake - frosted with ice creaam. Now it's just plain ice cream with some brown crumbly crunchy bits between the layers. Funny that Mr. Softee is mentioned - they disappeared from central NY state years ago but I still see them pop up in NYC in the summer - usually by 13th and Broadway adjacent to the Regal Union Square 14 Cinema. As for the ingredients - if you're lucky it's a dairy based mix like Carvel used to use (and perhaps still does) - actually not a bad quality product as soft serve goes. Here's the typical non-dairy vanilla soft serve (which is often identified as non-dairy) Here's a listing for the "non-fat soft serve yogurt" . As I said before - yum

I'd call it idiotic rather than just ridiculous. I think it's simplistic thinking and pandering to force any food purveyor to do this - the fact that the law is not applied equally makes it worse. This breakdown for the total Per Se meal if all items are included: is especially interesting when compared to something like... for example... Lay's Kettle Cooked Chips. It's not unusual for a single person to knock off a full bag of these in an evening - and some even add dip. A single 8 oz bag has 1,680 calories, 88 grams of fat and 200 grams of carbs. And that's just a SNACK for many people. I think nearly all rational people of just about all educational backgrounds and walks of life have an intuitive understanding of how many foods have more fat and calries than we need to exist. And I doubt that the average McDonald's Big Mac buyer pays any more attention to the nutritional info than I would at a fine dining restaurant fo it were made available to me. But apart from that - the premise for the article is, in my opinion, shaky at best to begin with.

Larrylee said: I think they are mentioned perhaps because they share an absurdly high retail price point? Coldstone is ice cream not yogurt or a yogurt blend... I don't know what Tasty-Delite is because we don't have it in my area. And the "mix-in" gimmick at Coldstone isn't much different than the "flurries" served by the soft serve places - it's just a slightly better quality ice cream (or so we hope) and mixed by hand rather than with a special blender. By the way.... did you know that all Carvel hard ice cream has always been made in-house at each store using either the vanilla or chocolate soft serve liqud as a base? They only stock those two mixes and make the hard ice cream by stirring in additional flavorings, coloring and mix-ins in the tube as the soft serve is generated by the machine. But all the seasonal soft serve ice cream places in this area serve Dole Whip - made from these tasty and healthful ingredients Yum. Maybe. I'm certainly willing to try it to see. The first few times I had gelato I was fortunate enough to have it in place that had the real deal and it lived up to the hype. Since then it's beeen hit and miss. If I'm in a tourist area and see it available I no longer bother because the sweetness level and texture are often very close to ice cream.

Larrylee said: I think they are mentioned perhaps because hey share an absurdly high retail price point? Coldstone is ice cream not yogurt or a yogurt blend... I don't know what Tasty-Delite is because we don't have it in my area. And the "mix-in" gimmick isn't much different than the "flurries" served by the soft serve places - it's just a slightly better quality ice cream (or so we hope). By the way.... did you know that all Carvel hard ice cream has always been made in-house at each store using either the vanilla or chosocolate soft serve liqud as a base? They only stock those two mixes and make the hard ice cream by stirring in additional flavorings, coloring and mix-ins in the tube as the soft serve is generated by the machine. But all the seasonal soft serve ice cream places in this area serve Dole Whip - made from these tasty and healthful ingredients Yum. Maybe. I'm certainly willing to try it to see. The first few times I had gelato I was fortunate enough to have it in place that had the real deal and it lived up to the hype. Since then it's beeen hit and miss. if I"m in a tourist area I no longer bother because the sweetness level and texture are very close to ice cream.

They do, but those Bodum presses are easily broken (just ask my girlfriend). ← No doubt. I chipped and then later broke my Bodum Pyrex vacuum pot despite careful handling. It's pretty darn thin-walled relative to Pyrex baking dishes and other such items - just not as durable.

Are you referring to an alcoholic coffee flavored beverage such as Kahlua or to some sort of concentrated coffee liquid?

We face the same dlimemma in my town. All of the Chinese take-out places have a white paper menu with red ink that is completely identical - right down to the occasional typo. Only the name of the restaurant changes. The food is pretty much interchangeable as well. Some serve dishes that seem a bit oilier than others and and others use a few sliced fresh white mushrooms in their hot and sour soup instead of the dried black ones - but otherwise almost no differences. Lately I've taken to ordering Singapore Mai Fun - one of the only dishes on these menus that doesn't have a gloppy sauce and is actually spicy. As for the sauces and some other key menu items..... I've been told that many of these take-out joints now get their sauces and certain other items pre-made from Sysco. Not sure if this is really the case but it makes sense. We did have a Chinese family who opened a place two years ago that was far superior and had many items obviously made "from scratch". They took over a defunct restaurant that was too large and had too high a level of overhead expense. Initially they focused on offering dim sum - the first ever dim sum menu in this city. Wisely, they relied on paper placemats with picture of the items and had customers order by the item instead of having carts or tray being brought around. But it never gained popularity. They dropped the dim sum menu after four or five months and tried to develop a lunch/dinner/takeout trade for their regular menu but it was too late to recover. A combination of bad location, high overhead and lack of a discerning/appreciative market were all factors in their demise. It was the only Chinese joint in town where the dumplings had a thin skin and were obviously home-made. Their "cold sesame noodles" were the only ones I've ever had in this area that obviously had a home-made sauce and every noodle was perfectly coated - not just a bowl of noodles with a puddle of sauce on top. The sad thing is that there just weren't enough people around here who cared enough or were discerning enough to notice the difference in quality and patronize them (I'm not sure which of those two was the bigger factor). I had to drive out of my way to reach them but always felt it was worthwhile. We are fortunate to have three Vietnamese restaurants locally - all run by Vietnamese familes (rather than being run by Chinese operators as is typically the case in places like NYC). All three typically have very fresh food and sauces that are made on site - one of the three is incredibly consistent and has high quality overall. And they are all very different from one another in preparation style on certain dishes and in terms of what they offer as menu items. As one might expect - there are some commonalities such as pho, spring rolls and cafe sua da - but there are numerous items at each place that are different from the others.

That's very cool. I'd pay that much for a small two cup bowl. Gelato is that much in many places and I buy that but would love a lower fat alternative if the texture was good. Forgot to mention upthread - in the context of prices - we had two Coldstone Creamery locations open here at the same time about two years ago. The mall based location still thrives but the upscale suburban plaza store died a quick death - lasted less than 18 months. I have to think that pricing was a primary reason (it was about $6 for a medium serving before add-ins).

Yes you're wrong. My coffee setup at home - for about 20 years until I got into espresso - consisted of a cheap little Waring whirly blade grinder that I got as a freebie for a sales spiff when I worked in retail. For the first ten years I used it with a Chemex and also Melitta cones and then when I had to brew larger amounts I switched to a thermal carafe (which I preheated while the coffee was brewing). Fo years my go-to source for beans was two pound bags of "all arabica French Roast" that I bought at BJ's Wholesale Club. I froze the bag after buying and took out a bit each day to grind at time of brewing. I was on a pretty serious budget for a long time but you know what? Despite my simple setup my coffee blew away anything that any of my friends ever served at home. And it was also far better than what I could get in local cafes or restaurants at the time. Decent quality reasonably fresh whole beans (which I preserved by freezing) and grinding by the pot were the keys. Thos two thingss are the cheapest, easiest and by far the most significant upgrades one can make to their home coffee process.

I've been there a couple times. It was okay... better than the Vietnamese I've had in a few other cities (e.g. Philly and Seattle) but not as good as what I got in NJ and what I currently enjoy here in Syracuse. I also tried the place that people raved about - it's downstairs on the basement level and the entry door is where a little C'town side street makes a 90 degre turn - this place is on the inside corner of that turn (sorry I can't recall the street name or the restaurant name). I liked Nha Trang better than that place - by a wide margin.