phaelon56

If you get a good E61 style (refers to the grouphead design that many brands share) HX machine you can pound out espresso shots almost as fast as you can grind, tamp, lock in portafilter and pull the shot. And if you have guests you can even shock them by offering cappa's after dinner! Or if you don't plan on steaming milk but your husband is a tweaker... tell him to Google PID and Silvia. That'll keep him busy for awhile.

I wouldn't be at all concerned. One of the biggest challenges of growth for indendent coffee business operaters is finding good folks to work the bar and make consistently excellent drinks. But if he expands to three, four or even more locations he needs simply upgrade his roaster to one that handles larger batches. And a larger roaster will perform just as well as a smaller one. IMHO anyone who has shown dedication to excellence in roasting is highly unlikely to slip as they expand.

If you're just looking to buy seafoood in this area (vs looking for a seafood restaurant) check out the "Farm Market" up on top of the hill in Hasbrouck Heights. It's also on Rte 17 South about 1 - 1.5 miles before North American Seafood - next to a restaurant bar called the Crow's Nest. It looks like a standard North Jersey "farm market" or produce joint but they have a terrific fish market inside. I have a friend whose Brazilian wife cooks seafood at home 4 - 5 times per week and she swears by the place.

The Silvia does a good job of steaming milk but it's not an HX (heat exchanger) design thus you'll need to wait about 1 - 2 minutes after pulling a shot before you can steam milk. Doesn't sound like a big deal and for many it's not but if you have four or five dinner guests and want to serve cappa's to everyone.... it really adds up. Sam has already very ably pointed out the issues with lever machines. The fact is that a pump will typically deliver more consistent pressure. I love the romance of a lever machine and will own one some day but to me it's like having an old British sports car - great fun to use but not something you'd want to to rely on for daily transportation. Another issue with lever machines is that they have an optimal window after being turned on - after a certain amount of warm up time you'll get your best shots but then they get too hot and you'll need to shut off and do a cool down (so I'm told).

I have the smaller of the two sizes of Bodum vac pot and it makes 25 oz as the maximum batch size. It should be perfect for two 10 oz mugs unless you drink two mugs each - i nwhich case the larger size should work just fine. I like the results of my manual Bodum better than the electric version but the Black & Decker VB100 is said to correct these issues. And it's a ten cupper - meaning 60 oz max batch size. Should be just right is you both drink two 10 oz mugs.

Note on BB King's - the seating is first come first served and a line forms outside before the second show. There really isn't a "bad" seat in the house but I suggest trying to get there no later than 9:30 if you want to avoid being stuck in a back corner (although even there you can still see the stage fairly well and the sound is great). By any and all possible means - avoid the food at BB King's. You can get a drinkable coffee and an edible dessert if you choose that route to meet the $10 per person minimum purchase (but two drinks or two beers will also get you to the $10 mark easily if you imbibe). But the food in general sucks. I concur with the previous comments on Birdland. By the way - neither the current Birdland or the Blue Note are the historic places folks often think they are - these are newer places using the old names. But Birdland has wonderful atmosphere, very good sound and also good line of sight to the stage. If by chance Joe's Pub at the Public Theater has a jazz offering that weekend I highly recommend it as perhaps the most intimate music club setting in town and the acoustics are astoundingly good - possibly the best of any venue I've ever been to (other than the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall in Troy NY). But you're likely to end up standing at Joe's Pub unless you get there very early. Even then... for the more popular shows most of the seats at tables are already taken by folks with connections before the doors open to the general public.

Good point. Although I don't have to taste straight espresso every day for my part time gig I do check it about 3 times per week and there's simply no valid reference point if it's sweetened. I think the original comment about coffee "tasting like it smells" may possibly refer to something mentioned in the book Espresso Coffee: Professional Techniques by David Schomer. My copy developed a set of legs when I left it around the back counter in the shop for a few weeks so I'm quoting from memory here... something like this... "Properly prepared coffee (espresso) offers a taste that fulfills the promise made by the way coffee smells." I'm paraphrasing but one point (which suspect we we nearly all agree on) is that many people, if not most, have never tried a truly stellar cup of coffee or a world class shot of espresso. Can't speak for others but I've lost track of how many people find out I'm associated with the coffee business and say something to the effect of: "Gosh I just love the way coffee smells but I can't stand the taste - won't drink even a drop - it tastes terrible" And chances are that they smelled something like the Folger's brewing in the company kitchen as I speak... which actually puts a pleasant brewed coffee aroma in the air when it's being made and tastes like dirty dishwater when you drink some. I take that back - I'm being unfair to dirty dishwater - it does taste a bit better than Folgers (which... by the way... constitutes 28% of the retail coffee sales in the US!)

If I took the small sampling size available for my scientific observation when I was growing up I'd reach the conclusion that half the population takes sugar and cream and half does not. My mom always drinks it straight black and my dad takes it with cream and plenty of sugar. It doesn't matter a whit to me how people drink their coffee but I think one of the points being made here (or at least proffered as a possibility to discuss) is that really, really good coffee can be consumed without sweeteners or cream. Many people who assume they could never enjoy a straight unadulterated coffee have never had the opportunity to try a cup made from freshly roasted very high quality beans and one that is brewed correctly. Then again they might try it and still want sugar and cream. So be it. I sell brewed coffee over the counter four mornings per week. We have a few coffee aficionados among our clientele but most are just folks who appreciate a really good cuppa joe or a dececent espresso drink (both are hard to find in this town outside of our shops). I'll hazard a guess that 65 - 75% take cream in their coffee and about 30 - 40% of that group also add sugar. And a handful of the black coffee drinkers add sweetener. But there's lots of coffee served in this town that simply wouldn't be drinkable without cream and sugar and even when doctored up like that it still barely resembles real coffee.

Gimme Coffee of Ithaca NY and Brooklyn built a gorgeous espresso bar in a 1948 aluminum trailer. It;s installed on the Cornell University campus and the above page has a link to photos of the restoration, construction and installation project. Mega cool and i'ts been very well received. Good luck on your project.

The little gauzy bag you describe must be the gizmo available at most Spanish grocery stores - those that cater to the Caribbean disapora here is the US: Puerto Rican (Borinquen), Dominican et al. For a period of time back in the late 1980's I was hooked on making coffee with Bustela brand and that little muslin sock asembly. Coffee into cold water, bring to the boil, steep and then pour off a really dense dark strong liquid. Always consumed (for me at that time) with half coffee and half scalded milk and a bit of sugar.

Yet.... tragically.... but in so many places it does not. This is especially true of espresso but properly made drip coffee (or press pot) is also difficult to find in the US. Even in major markets such as NYC (although the situation there is slowly improving). I travel regularly for work and can confirm that this deplorable situation is not unique to my small city in central NY state. It's endemic in most regions. Yes there are cities such as Vancouver and Seattle where one actually has multiple espresso purveyors to choose from who offer top shelf shots and properly micro-foamed milk. But apart from those two metro areas and some isolated pockets elsewhere it's still dismal. Even with bad coffee I can not tolerate the slightest hint of sweetness. If I so much as place a used spoon with a trace of sugar residue in my drip coffee I find the result abominable. But with espresso it's only the shots I pull at home and those I get to sample on occasional visits to great cafés that can be drunk without a trace amount of sugar added. I recently had the pleasure of enjoying machiatto's at Victrola and also at Cafe Vivace - both in Seattle. The Victrola drinks (several consumed over a two day period) edged out all the other Seattle espresso I sampled that weekend. Vivace was a not too distant second and both places offered espressos that would have been spoiled by the addition of any sugar (and I added none). But other espresso drinks I had in Seattle (which will remain nameless for now) had a bitter note that cried out for the counterbalance of some raw sugar. Which I dutifully added so as not to waste the drink.

If someone else uses that phrase in their marketing and gets a court challenge - I'd be shocked of the trademark would hold up in court. Shocked. But then again... UPS has actually trademarked the phrase "the color brown".

That's a fantastic price for such quality. I really like Plataforma but just can't justify the price for the amount of food I can eat. Do you think they might cook up some chicken livers... perhaps wrapped in bacon... if I ask nicely?

There is already a coffee related device that turns the top down paradigm on its head but it's for solids - not liquids. The La Marzocco Swift Grinder automatically grinds, does and tamps to fill the espresso machine portafilter. Traditional hand tamping (which is still the best method if performed by a qualified and experienced barista) has one fill the basket, level the grounds to distribute, apply downward rotating pressure to compact the contents and then do a lighter spin of a full revolution or two to "polish" the surface. The Swift uses and auger assembly that starts by moving down to the bottom of the portafilter basket before the dose of grounds is released. It then moves (motorized) upwards to compact the grounds that are forced down around the blade of the auger into the bottom of the basket. Novel solution to a very complex problem (the Swift is the only auto grind/tamp/dose system outside of super-auto espresso machines that seems to work consistently and even it has its issues with consistency). But I'm not sure how you could possibly apply that to press pots. Doesn't Bodum make a new model of Press pot with a fine mesh filter that's supposed to eliminate the sludge problem?

You'll want a slightly coarser grind than that used for drip coffee and much coarser than that used for espresso. Issues with Illy: 1) If I recall correctly it's ground for espresos maker / moka pot use and will be too fine for a French Press. 2) It's way overpriced 3) You'll never get it as fresh as what you can buy from a reputable local microroaster or what you get from any number of US specialty roaster by buying online. Even with shipping charges you'll likely find the US product to be cheaper per pound or at least no more expensive. It's just a fact that any coffee roasted and canned in a factory in Italy and shipped here then distributed... cannot get to you within a few weeks of roasting date. More like a few months. t There's no amount of nitrogen flushing or vacuum packing that can overcome that fact even though Illy offers a better canned coffee product than any other I've tried. If you're in Italy the Illy or Lavazza coffee you can get in most stores will generally be very fresh and superior to the Illy available in the US.

I understand your concerns but I was on vacation and incoculating myself daily with copious amounts of espresso But on the basis of my one meal there I'd go elsewhere next time.

Amazon has 28 user reviews of this vac pot. It receives nearly universal praise from all of the reviewers except for one or two who appear to be unaware of the unique characteristics of vac pots. Several of the reviews were by users who had owned had mixed experiences with Bodum eSantos pots or the Starbucks Utopia (which is a rebranded eSantos). The gist of the reviews is that it's the best electric vac pot they've ever used, seems to be well made and has corrected some of the design flaws that affect the Bodum product. The reviews of the device are all for a ten cup version. I don't know if there's a four cup model but the four cup eSantos has a brew time that's way too short. Not as big a problem on the ten cup eSantos but even that model benefits from a small shim under one edge to increase tilt angle of the base heating element. The reviews indicate that the B & D has a stepped design for the base heating element and allows for a long enough brew time. Apparently it does leave the heat on at a bit too high a level after brewing but IMHO you should be transferring to a thermal carafe if you're not pouring and drinking all the coffee immediately.

I've never been able to tolerate even the slightest hint of sweetness in regular (e.g. drip or press pot) coffee but I do like a tiny hint of sweetness in machiatto's, straight espresso, cappuccino etc. Once I tried raw sugar I was hooked. To my taste buds it has a more natural and less cloying sweetness that has a hitn of other flavor which marries well with espresso. In a pinch I'll still use a bit of white sugar if it's all that's available but I've grown to dislike the simple sweetness of refined white sugar. I'll add that I worked as a waiter back int he late 1970's and the bistro where I worked offered raw sugar for coffee at that time. We had customers who raved about how much better it was and I (privately) pooh-poohed them as being folks who just thought they detected a difference. How wrong I was but of course it's all about personal taste. And the only place I saw raw sugar last year in Paris was at a Starbucks - sadly it was also the only place where I could get a drink that remotely resemble a proper cappuccino (post trip research has turned up a few places in Paris where one can get a real traditional cappuccino of good quality but they're few and far between).

Pink Tea Cup is a mixed bag - some dishes sometimes very good but not great at others. It's reliable enough and for a very moderately priced filling dinner is usually a good bet. Have heard that their weekend breakfasts are the big draw but I've only been there for dinner. Their fried chicken is not bad and they also have pan fried chicken livers on the menu - always a good thing for me. I've been told by a reliable authority ( a musician who played there on weekends and knew what went on behind the scenes) that one of the well-known Harlem soul food places actually has two menus - which can be distinguished by the differing colors of the menu or the cover. If you're a neighborhood person you get the menu with the "regular" prices. Everyone else gets the "tourist" menu. Same food - big upcharge

from Baltimore City Paper web site Jay's web site appears to be down temporarily so I'll hold off on including that link. He takes his coffee and espresso very seriously and his baristas have served me a few outstanding drinks on the two occasions I stopped in to visit (I live a few hundred miles away - otherwise I'd be a regular both there and at Murky). On a separate topic - T.Thrasher makes a very good point regarding service. I certainly didn't have that kind of experience when I visited Murky and suspect it was a fluke occurrence. But employee attitudes or behavior of that type certainly do fall into the category of a Sales Prevention Program. The folks I work for part time have about a dozen baristas overall (most part time) spread across three locations. I suspect that we have our stray employee here and there who gets a bad attitude and throws it off at customers without the owners being aware of it. Hope springs eternal that anyone receiving such treatment would report it to a manager/owner but we're not always so fortunate. Sometimes people vote with their feet and their wallet. Not to mention sharing their unfortunate tale with a few friends. Knock 'em all ya want and I'll be the first to admit that the Stepfordization inherent in their training can come off as a bit spooky sometimes but Starbucks really has the service thing down to a science. Not all of their stores pull it off equally well but I've visited many due to my business travel and time spent in cities where there's no half decent independent within walking distance or easy driving distance of my hotel or customer's site. As a general rule I am always greeted with what appears to a be a real smile and genuine enthusiasm when I enter the store and approach the ordering area. Communication seems to be consistently upbeat, friendly and very efficient to the customer and also between staff members dedicated to various behind the counter tasks. Invariably I'm notified verbally by name when my order is ready, thanked for my business and given a friendly parting word or two. It's hardly accidental and yes the spontaneity sometimes seems absent. That's not coincidental - I have a friend who trained with them for a few weeks for a part time position and quit - horrified at what she felt was borderline behavior conditioning. But it works and they have created a customer experience that is consistent enough and pleasant enough to gain heavy repeat business and a growing customer base without heavy advertising. I just wish they cared enough about coffee and espresso quality to make something worth drinking.

I think Bourdain's comments may have been written before the whole salmonella issue in raw and/or coddled eggs became a thing of concern. How many places have you been to (here in the US) in recent years that still do a table side prep of Caesar salad in the traditional manner? Very few if any. It's not just because table side prep is no longer fashionable but because coddled eggs are used. There are "safe" eggs available but they don't seem to have been widely adopted. When I worked in the trade it was in a bistro - we had pre sealed packets of butter for the tables (tacky but hey - it was a casual and moderately priced bistro). We did in fact use fresh butter straight from the walk-in for our Hollandaise and Bearnaise. It w s typically made at 5 PM just before dinner service started and yes it did sit in a steam table until dinners stopped at 10 PM. But we never ever had a problem with it from any diner - didn't go "bad" and no one got sick. And believe me - this joint was no French Laundry when it came to kitchen cleanliness. But I digress. Just wanted to weigh in with what may serve as a good reference point for mediocre Eggs Benedict in Seattle. I was in town last weekend and had a late breakfast on Saturday at the Broadway Grill. We opted for the breakfast buffet - probably a poor choice but we were both starved and quantity/flexibility in ordering seemed desirable. Eggs Benedict are one of the items on the buffet. I'm suspect that the Hollandaise is a pre-made Sysco style product and the over result was less than great. But it was a darn sight better than the so-called scrambled eggs. I think ordering off the regular menu is a better bet at Broadway Grill but their buffet Eggs Benedict should set a nice baseline for a bad version of the dish.

Do you like them better than Hoffman's coneys?

I think they should have had Stumptown on the list also (Portland OR). But after yesterday and today I'm ready to add Victrola of Seattle to my personal top 5. Had two machiatto's yesterday and a quad shot short latte this morning. Quite possibly the smoothest espresso I've ever had. And I had the pleasure of meeting and chatting with one of their roasters - Tony (aka Tonx). Talk about fanatical attention to detail. He is really, really dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in his roasting and it shows.

I have yet to try coffee from the Senseo or its equivalent machines. People indicate that if space is an issue and you like a quick one cup at a time they're "okay". But it's not espresso and it's not really like drip or press pot . And you have to buy pods - puts some real limits on how fresh the coffee can be.

It won't affect my dining habits in any way initially. I have already taken to driving more conservatively and have seen my gas mileage improve noticeably. I live in a town where the restaurant I frequent are typically within 6 - 8 miles of my house. So if gas hits $6 per gallon then the round trip for dinner will cost me (in gasoline) perhaps $3 rather than the $1.25 I'm spending now. NO big deal. But when food costs rise due to transportation costs.... the restaurant owner has to bump prices up to cover his/her own increased living expenses.... plastics based products (many of which are petroleum based in some way, shape or form)... and my $20 dinner has risen to $30... I'll start cooking and dining at home more often that I do at present. Unless I get a big raise at work - not that there's anything wrong with THAT