phaelon56

Starbucks does use whole beans - yes. And in some US locations (and, from what I understand - targeted overseas locations) they are still using traditional semi-auto machines and grinding/tamping the old-fashioned way. But I still can't get past the burnt taste of their "signature roast profile" and it's not a function of the coffee sitting in the thermal containers for more than 30 minutes after brewing. I recently saw a commercial video in-room at a Westin Hotel on their "information channel". It was about coffee roasting and caught my eye immediatley. before I became aware that it was a Starbucks promotional piece the Roast Master was dronign on about hwo they roast the beans until a sheen of oil appears on the surface and then "take it a bit further to develop our signature dark roast style". Uhhhh.... has he been to Roasting 101? If a sheen of oil appears on the surface of the bean during the roasting process you burned/scorched the beans. The biggest problem I seee with Starbucks in many areas relative to their impact on independent operators is their extremely deep pockets. They can afford to spend upwards of $750,000 to $1,000,000 just to open one branch in what most of us would think of as a secondary location (in a third tier market no less). And they can wait for years and years and years for that location to produce a real profit because it's all about same store % sales increase from year to year. If that metric looks good then Wall Street and the investors are happy.

I'm in agreement with the notion that smaller cuts of meat are a great option - whether it's a "date place" or not. But I'm a bit taken aback by the price of sides. $10 for a bowl of soup and $9 for a side order of potatoes? I'll guess (or I would hope) that the side dishes are generous portions and will serve several people but isn't that a few $ higher than other higher end steakhouses in NYC?

Believe it or not... there's a place near here on Rte 31 just off Oneida Lake (central NY) called Flo's Diner that still has 10 cent bottomless cups of coffee. And it's about as good as what you pay for it. But my dad and his other 85 year old buddies all love it

If by chance I was a regular at Starbucks it wouldn't affect my drink purchasing or drink purchasing habits. I do on occasion utilize them when I'm traveling and have no other option but even - the increase would have to put them totally out of line with current market prices before it would make a whit of difference to me. Frankly I'm surprised that they only raised prices by a nickel per cup. The cost of doing business for any operator, large or small, has increased in the past two years. Cups, napkins, stirring sticks etc... all of them keep creeping up. Coffee prices on C market (Commmodity trading) have been at historic lows in recent years thus I'm not surprised that their bean prices have not changed much. But the market for the less common and more select arabicas has become more competitive of late and the 'bucks is paying a bit more. Also, to their credit (although I still hate their roasting style and flavor profile), they'ver been buying increasingly more fairly traded coffee as well as spending some money on community initiatives (family health care, education etc) in coffee growing regions where they do significant buying.

By the way... I just noticed your location. If you haven't already been there I strongly recommend that you give Kean Coffee a visit. It's owned by Martin Diedrich - the foudner of Diedrich Coffee (with which he is no longer affiliated). He does all his roasting on site, sells whole beans stamped with roast date and rotatets stock to ensure that the availabel beans are always within about five days of roast date. There's a good selection of varietals available - most of them organic and Fair Trade. He also has his staff trained the right way - good shots are being pulled and on my visit there the milk texturing was also being done correctly. Try a machiatto or a traditional (Italian) cappuccino - good stuff! And if you spot him there running his roaster (which he does every day) say hello for me to Martin Diedrich. He's a pioneer and a legend in the coffee business - not to mention being erudite, fascinating and a really nice guy.

By the way... I just noticed your location. If you haven't already been there I strongly recommend that yoi give Keane's Coffee a visit. It's owned by Martin Diedrich - the foudner of Diedrich Coffee (with which he is no longer affiliated). He does all his roasting on site, sells whole beans stamped with roast date and rotatets stock to ensure that the availabel beans are always within about five days of roast date. There's a good selection of varietals availabel - most of them organic and Fair Trade. He also has his stafff trained the right way - good shots are being pulled and on my visit there the milk texturing was also being done correctly. Try a machiatto or a traditional (Italian) cappuccino - good stuff!

In most geographic areas - even large metro areas - buying online is the only way to get the better brands and a decent price. I'll try to post actual hyperlinks,when I get time but the places I have personal familiarity with - all of which are reputable - include Aabree Coffee, 1st Line Coffee, Chris Coffee and Whole Latte Love. When you do some site scanning and gather a sense of what you may be most interested in I strongly recommend lookign at some consumer reviews on Coffeegeek. Head geek Mark Prince also has a personal coffee site, Coffee Kid , which has some excellent FAQ's and basic tutorials for espresso neophytes.

If you can possibly see your way clear to a higher budget it's worth saving your pennies for awhle and getting a Rancilio Silvia - widely available at $495. If you don't do lots of steaming for milk drinks it's all the espresso machine you'll ever need for the home environment and is built like a tank. Some folks liek some of the lower end Solis machiness but in the sub $250 category IMHO the Gaggia Carezza is as good as it gets. Shop around and you'll find one for about $200. It has a larger and heavier grouphead assembly than other machines in its class (more mass means better heat retention - crucial for good espresso). And the portafilter assembly is nearly as heavy as a commercial portafilter - once again - heavy is good. Skip Saeco and also the low end Starbucks machines which are rebadged Saeco's. They're not inherently bad but have "pressurized" portafilters that offer a bit more consistent results for beginners but limit the potential shot quality. The Gaggia's have heavier parts where it counts, heat up faster due to a unique boiler design and IMO are more reliable (but that last comment is anecdotal based on a limited sampling). Grinders: for espresso a cheap burr grinder = bad and a blade grinder is about the same. It's all about consistency of fine particle size - the cheaper grinders can't achieve it. They're fine for drip coffee but not for espresso. You can get a Solis Maestro "Classic" for about $89 these days - a good choice. But if you anticipate eventually moving up to a better espresso machine consider jumping to something like a Rancilio Rocky or its equivalent in the $250 - $275 range. Preground espresso won't be fresh enough... cheap grinders are fine for drip but not for espresso... and a good grinder will (literally) last you a lifetime. Here are two pinned topics just chock full of helpful grinder info Grinder Discussions

Not the type of machine to waste time looking for. Yes. Absolutely. My personal suggestions... Low Budget: a Moka pot (stovetop espresso maker) at $50 or less and a Mellita cone style manual pour-over for drip at about $5 plus $20 for a thermal carafe to drip the coffee into. Moka coffee is not "real" espresso but it's typically a much better coffee drink than the "espresso" you'll get from a combo machine or a really low end espresso machine. And the coffee from the Melitta is as good as you'll get. Also budget about $20 for a decent little whirly blade grinder and use whole bean coffee. Medium budget: A Gaggia Carezza espresso machine or equivalent at about $200 - $220 and a Solis Maestro grinder at about $100 - $110. You might also look for a Bodum Antigua grinder that's a bit cheaper but you can't spend any less than $80 - $100 and get a grinder that's good enough to make decent espresso. And stick to the Mellita or jump to $60 - $120 for a drip brewer that is tested to brew hot enough (I think Bunn, Technivorm and Cuisinart may be among the few that brew at a high enough temp). High budget: don't get me started! Many, many options abound.....

Plenty of great suggestions already. It's not a bad idea, depending on your eventual start-up budget and the amount of space you'll have available, to consider starting with drip and perhaps even press pot coffee and then adding espresso once the business is rolling. But if you follow that path be sure to have the mechanicals installed when you do your initial build out (water supply, 220V electric, drain line, appopriate height workspace and counter inset etc). It's far easier and cheaper to do them then rather than later on. And, as others have pointed out, it's a shrewd move to distinguish yourself by offering above average or better yet - exceptional quality espresso and espresso drinks. Starbucks, Caribou and other chains seem to get worse as time goes on relative to drink quality whilst the consumers are getting more sophisticated and more discerning at the same time. In some markets it may require proactive marketing and educaiton on your part but if you focus on quality the business will build predictably and people will venture out of their way to get drinks from you. I always look for good independent espresso purveyors in my travels and apart from a few select cities it's really tough to good ones. Roasters who have active wholesale programs and have well established structured support programs for their clients include Stumptown, Intelligentsia and Counter Culture. But I'd be remiss if I failed to mention Ecco Caffe and Terroir - both of whom have wholesale offerings and consistently excellent bean offerings.

My memories of eating date back to a fairly young age - perhaps to shorlty after the time when I began using utensils. For most of us born to Depression era parents (i.e. their formative years were during the height of the Great Depression) playing with your food was not an option - not ever. But I did cross the line on one memorable occasion and soon regretted it. During a summer vacation trip, when I was about age 6, my older brother convinced to drop some Root Beer Fizzies into a glass of milk when we were having lunch. He was 100% correct that it was cool looking and great fun to watch. But my mother was less than amused when I discovered that the resulting drink was foul tasting and unpalatable. Ten minutes later I had finally downed a ten ounce glass of sickly sweet root beer flavored carbonated whole milk. I don't recall ever playing with my food again

Airpots are usually about 3 liters in size - that's about twelve 8 oz cups. I've seen Bunn airpots in boxes of six at $90 per box on eBay. If you nose around you should be able to find them by the each for $20 - $25.

I did once have good fried chicken in NYC on on of my two visits to Soul Cafe. But at $20 - $22 for fried chicken and $5 for a side of collards? I don't think so.

I would have suggested that - we have Fetco dual airpot Extractor series in all our shops and they're great. I guessed that if it's just serving coffee a couple times each month at an auction house the Bunn would be a good little workhorse at about half the price. But I'm totally in agreement about the granular control possibilities not to mention the ease of the programming interface.

I'm acustomed to Cuban style coffee - served very thick and black (really a stove-top style espresso) that was always served heavily pre-sweetened when my former GF's Cuban father brought out cpffee after dinner. And I like a bit of raw sugar - perhaps a half teaspoon - in my espresso or machiatto. But when I move to a cappuccino (3 to 1 milk to espresso ratio in a six oz cup) the amount of sugar is reduced. How much I use depends on how smooth the espresso is. In some cases I use a trace amount of sugar or on occasion none at all in the cappa's. It's when I get to regular coffee that the equation changes drastically and I don't know why. Depending onthe coffee I like my drip or press pot coffee either black or with some half 'n half. But if if you so much as stir the cup with a spoon that has trace amounts of sugar residue on it I'll taste the sweetness and nearly gag. I absolutely can't stand and won't drink regular coffee that has been sweetened in any way. It's worth noting that among the most progressive espresso purveyors in North America (and elsewhere) you'll find an ongoing quest to develop and serve espresso blends that have lots of complex flavor and richness but no bitterness. With few exceptions these blends contain no Robusta beans. Many people on these shores assume that Robusta beans are always bad because they're the variety used to make supermarket swill like Folger's and Maxwell House. But there are in fact a number of high quality strains of Robusta that go straight to the specialty coffee market. And most of that goes into espresso blends used in Italy in percentages varying from 10% to 20% or even a bit higher (the balance of those blends being made from Arabica variety beans). The Robusta adds more caffeine than Arabica and also helps generate abundant crema - a desirable component in espresso. But even the best Robusta also adds a slightly bitter undertone to the flavor profile. In many cases, outside of Italy, this is not desirable but the classic Italian espresso flavor profile has this bitter element which is balanced nicely by the addition of sugar. When I finally get to Italy (which will be soon!) you'll see me adding sugar to my cup!

With that volume I'm sure the Bunn is a good choice and I strongly recommend going with the plumbed in unit and a full six airpots. 3 liter airpot holds about ten servings of 10 oz each. I trust that you'll have a rush for coffee at certain points and have plenty else to do other than stand around getting water for a pour-over unit At the risk of being repetitive I'll re-emphasize the need for a water filter and periodic cartridge replacement. I've seen water so bad that a brewer installed without one had a failed heating element within six months due to scale buildup. As a matter of fact - at that location I had to install a rechargeable stand-alone water softener that gets new salt tablets every six months.

I'll make a concerted effort to get to the NY State fair again this year and report back. The word is that we have a few additions: 1) an upscale vendor selling lobster rolls (at a decent price of $10 each unless they are stingy on lobster - have not seen them yet to know), "calamari steak" rolls, crab cakes and crab stuffed artichoke hearts.... 2) deep fried spaghetti and meatballs on a stick. yes - you read correctly. These are imported from Minnesota so they MUST be good ! 3) fried kangaroo (don't know if it's on a stick or on a roll - but who cares?

What kind of volume of coffee will you be serving? If you want good quality with the right brew temp and something fairly bulletproof in terms of reliability as well as a moderate price I sugggest a Bunn CWTF15-APS plumbed in single airpot brewer. The airpots themselves are available on eBay (Bunn and similar moderately priced brands) in boxes of six for about $15 - $20 per airport ($90 to $120 for the case). This allows you to have a coupel pots full of both decaf and regular at any given time and also a spare pot or two just in case (with heavy use the pump mechanism eventually wears out). Run a 1/4" copper water connection to feed the brewer and ensure to install a simple cartridge based water filter (an absolute must - and replacement cartridges are about $40 - $50 and with moderate volume will easily last one year or longer in all but the hardest water). The Bun will run you about $475 to $575 depending on current pricing and source. And be sure to spend the extra $15 or $20 to get the stainless steel brew basket instead of tyhe plastic one. I have a slight personal preference for Fetco because we use them in our shops but they are pricier and for your purposes IMHO present no real advantage. Or if you can live with the hassle of a "pour-over" airpot brewer you can pick the Bunn version of a pour-over airpot brewer for less than $250 at Sam's Club.

Is this the place on Rte 17 South just past Hasbrouck Heights... in or near the edge of East Rutherford? It's a fish market that also sells steamed lobster, cooked fish and other food to eat on premises. I never bothered to try it when I lived in the area. Reports that I read/heard here and elsewhere have all beeen to the effect that it was once fairly decent but went way downhill both as a market and a restaurant and is generally atrocious. In that general area if you want excellent fresh seafood to take home and cook yourself I suggest a little known gem in Hasbrouck Heights. On Rte 17 South there's a restaurant/bar called The Crow's Nest. Just before it and set back a bit from the road is a "Farm Market" produce store. They have a fresh seafood department inside that IMHO is the best source for many miles around and has competitive prices. I haven't tried the pricier seafood restaurants in that general area but there's a Portuguese place in Lyndhurst on Rte 17 Sout - just past New York Ave and on the left across the the cemetery. It's called Teros Snack Bar but it's a full blown restaurant with bar and although casual in nature is nice inside. The paella is about the same as what you'll find in Ironbound but they have fairly good fresh fish cooked properly and huge portions as well (where else but at a Portuguese/Brazilian restaurant would they give you rice to go along with your potatoes?!!!) But you can't beat Seabra's Marisqueria in Ironbound for seafood. That's where the Brazilian and Portugues locals go for seafood and there's a good reason why.

Syracuse NY had one of the sole remaining "original" McDonalds and local archictural history buffs tried valiantly to save it when the new one was scheduled to be built. Alas - the cost of acquiring the proiperty behind it and movign the buildingh back so the new one could be constructed near the road was more than the owner could justify and down it went. I don't recall liking the food but it was a cool building.

If the quality of ingredients is good and portion size is generous I don't think $9 is off the mark in Manhattan. One of my favorite local Mexican influenced Bistro's here in Syracuse - Alto Cinco - gets $7 or $8 for a burrito with one side dish and $6 for a simple burrito. Quality is excellent, they're enormous (one is really a meal) and I've never heard people squawk about the price. If they had more luxe ingredients $9 is a price that could be supported and we're talking about a market in which even the more enlightened diners don't expect to pay NYC prices for a meal (as they shouldn't - the overall cost of doing business here is far lower than in Manhattan as are wages, housing prices etc.).

I didn't have the toffee pudding but did you ever try the toffee pudding at the place in Chelsea that was up at the back end of an alley on a side street off 7th? If I recall correctly the name of that place was actually "Up the Alley" and they had a neon sign with a knife and fork symbol out at the alley entrance by the street. Their toffee pudding, when they had it, was a good enough excuse to visit the restaurant (the rest of the food was fine but that pudding was the best dessert I've ever had in Manhattan other than the chocolate souffle at Etats-Unis).

I've found MacIntosh apples purchased at the supermarket to be lacking in many ways unless it's peak season and they happen to come from a local orchard. They're easy to grow (in relative terms), produce abundantly and are available in fairly disease resistant varieties. My hometown of Syracuse is about 10 miles north of one of the country's prime apple growing regions: the LaFayette Valley. It's unfortunate but many of the varities that were grown in fair quantities when I was younger have now had their local acreage replaced by the apple types that the supermarket chains want in abundance. If I want Northern Spy apples for baking, a Red Delicious that actually tastes like a real apple or better yet - a Macoun that really has the unique character of a Macoun - I can't buy them at local stores even in the peak of season. These less common varieties are grown in much smaller quantities than they were in the past and some. like Macouns, hit maturity at mid season and for a short amount of time. IMHO a Macoun fresh from the orchard and consumed within no more than one week of being picked (and stored properly in the interim without having beeen transported in bulk) is akin to the platonic ideal of an apple. Crisp, tart yet sweet and so intensely bursting with flavor that each fall in that precious window of when I can eat them (about a month to five weeks) it's as though I have discovered apples again for the first time. This despite the fact that I eat other varieties all year long.

Marlene - I hope you'll have your head screwed on tighter than mine was! I lost my brother in late June and we had the memorial service about a month later in late July. It's the first time I've ever entertained mroe than 10 people in my home. In some respects I did what you're aiming for - a real party with plenty of beer top drink and "real food" to chow down on (versus the cold cuts, cold salads and sandwich type stuff that my Irish-Americn extended family usually offers at such events). I chose to have a local soul food caterer provide fried chicken, baked ham, mac 'n cheese, corn, collard greens, deviled eggs, veggies with dip etc. Expecting about 50 people (who all did appear)... I had told the caterer to prepare food for only 35. This because I smoked six full racks of ribs that would just be finished when we arrived back at the house after the service. Having turned the smoker off immediately I busied myself with getting the food uncovered (which the caterer had dropped off) and completely forgot about the ribs until after the party! As it turns out - the caterer was very generous with her portions and there was plenty for everyone. The two things that were or would have been superfluous from the caterer were cold salads (which we didn't order) and desserts (we order three cakes). Several people brought unsolicited cold salads and at least five people brought desserts. And we sent him off the right way - with plenty of good food, good drink and socializing.

Yes, but that's not the main point of the concept. The easy meal prep meals are "homemade with love by [usually] Mom"! Although they essentially become frozen meals -- ready to pop out of the freezer and reheat in the microwave or conventional oven, consumers feel they're "purer" and higher-quality because they see the ingredients that are going into each dish (although those ingredients may themselves contain artificial ingredients). And the concept assuages consumers' guilt over using commercial frozen meals, fast-food, or supermarket take-out. They have prepared the meals with their own hands, therefore it's "home cooking." ← There are other compelling reasons as well 1) At $2.75 to to $3.25 per entree serving the cost in my area makes it about half the price of buying "ready tio heat and eat" meals at our local grocery store 2) Assuming you deal with a "make and take" vendor who uses quality ingredients you may have a better product 3) The flexibility of being able to control seasonings and ingredients - if you want less salt, more garlic, no onions, no mushrooms ... etc - that is controlled by the person "assembling" the meal. My local operation is Make and Take Gourmet I think I'll try out their $118 six dinner deal sometime soon. I'll keep some of the entrees myself, give a few to friends and family and then report back when I have a varied enough range if feedback to report. If the quality is decent I may end up doing it again. My work day begins at 5 or 6 AM, runs until 5 PM or later and I rarely get back home before 7 PM. Menu planning, shopping, prep work, cooking and clean up takes too much time to make it practical to cook for one on weekdays. And weekends (at least during the summer) are often consumed with projects and travel. So lately I've been living on a combination of gorcery store rotisserie chicken, bagged salds, fruit, dinoing out and supplementing all that with take-away dinners from my local soul food take-out restaurant. And as tasty as the soul food is I know darn well I shouldn't be eating it for so many meals every week.