phaelon56

There are some fundamental questions to be answered: what's the overall budget, how much can you allow for the espresso machine and grinders and what's the anticipated volume of business (in terms of espresso drinks per day)? As for Illy, it's generally thought to be a far better espresso blend in Italy than it is here, partly due to the freshness factor and possibly because they may use a slightly different blend for the Italian market than what they offer here in the US. But the biggest factor is freshness. Roasted beans in general and espresso blends in particular are typically at their optimal state beginning about two days after roasting and stay in that sweet spot for another week or so if properly stored and handled. After that the quality declines rapidly. It's totally impractical to use a bean that's roasted in Italy and expect to get stellar results here. Cafe Artigiano actually brings in the Black Cat blend from Intellegentsia Roasters of Chicago and gets it frequently enough to have optimal quality beans all the time. Other US specialty roasters whose beans are used in a variety of areas include Counter Culture Coffee, Caffe Vivace and Terroir. There are a number of others offering outstanding quality but that short list is a good place to start when looking for samples and seeking a reliable vendor who ships fresh. I think you'll also find that even with freight costs from the US the wholesale prices from these vendors will make them cost competitive with Illy.

I'm sure the food will be great but I feel obliged to mention that AWB still really cooks, musically speaking, perhaps better than ever. I saw them at a free outdoor show in NYC a few summers ago and was pleasantly surprised. This should be a fun event.

Thanks for the update Allie. Apparently Al Roker and crew were at Melt this past Thursday to film a segment for "Roker On The Road" but I don't know when it will actually air. I imagine Glenn will provide us with an update when he gets a spare moment of time out of his busy schedule.

I live in an area where the population density is fairly low and overall metro area population is likely not sizable enough to support on-line grocery purchasing. The only grocery vendor in this area who's got the savvy and the infrastructure to support such a venture as a subsidiary operation is Wegman's and I don't see them doing it - certainly not around here. No if's and's or but's - they want people physically in the store because they'll sell more that way. I wish I could order grocery products on-line - with the exception of produce which I will only buy when I can pick it out hands-on... it would be so nice to just pick and click and have it there when I get home. With a 60 - 70 hour work week I lack the time or inclination to do more than the bare minimum of shopping but would actually spend more if I could do it more conveniently.

I rarely visit restaurants where lobster is a significant item but at Seabra's Marisqueria, a moderately priced Portuguese place in Jersey City's Ironbound section, seafood in general and lobster in particular is high profile. They have a big lobster tank adjacent to the kitchen door in the dining room. There's also a huge plate glass window allowing a view of the kitchen - in the front of the window just behind the glass the day's fresh fish (whole of course) are also nicely displayed on crushed ice. You choose the lobster and can actually see them take it over... still kicking... and drop it in that big ol' pot of wAter that is ready all day long just for that purpose. You can also stand there and watch them clean your fish before it's cooked but no one bothers. This joint gets mostly Portuguese and Brazlian neighborhood folks wh take their seafood seriously - you can trust that it's getting cooked the right way.

I'm sure the horror story I'm about to regale you with is just a fluke.. an aberration... a chance event in the culinary Universe... but I never bothered with lobster in a restaurant after hearing this. Years ago we had a restaurant in Syracuse that was, for a lengthy period of time, the only seafood restaurant in town. They were noted for their "fresh lobster". They had a tank in the lobby - you picked the exact critter you wanted and they took it back to the kitchen to "cook it" for you. But that lobster actually went straight into a holding tank in the kitchen to be returned to the front tank after all the patrons had gone home. The standard practice in this joint was to steam lobsters en masse when an order came in and then stick 'em in the walk-in fridge. Each and every "cooked to order" lobster was actually just zapped in the microwave to heat it and served with drawn butter - some of them close to one week old (they got fish shipments only once or twice each week). I was not there to witness this but the sad tale was shared with me by a very reliable line cook - a few years after this place had gone out of business. He had no agenda and no reason to make it up - the entire business came up when we were sharing kitchen/workplace horror stories over drinks one night. I've heard worse kitchen stories but this one is right up there....

Oddly enough... the first granita I ever had was one of the very best. Happened upon a Seattle's Best location in Chicago about 1u years ago when they first expanded to that area. It had the perfect balance of tyexture, intense coffee flavor, low sweetness level. Since then I've run into a genuinely good and authentic granita on only one occasion. Have taken to making them myself at home but it's tough to get the right texture and avoid quick separation. By the way... granita machines... the real ones... are finicky, high maintenance and suck up massive amounts of electricity. Many, many places that put them in for a year or two end up switching to powder mix, ice and Vita-Mix blenders.Not saying it's right but as a coffee business guy I can understand why so few places are bothering at this point. But I'll be in Seattle Labor Day weekend and will check this thread for ideas.

Hmmmm... I have not yet had a chance to try Black Cat myself but I can tell you that the Vivace blends are generally very much optimized for espresso and may not translate as well to drip or press coffee. I'm not personally a big fan of Zoka's standard espresso blend (the one they use in the store) nor am I enamored of Caffe Vita's del Sol espresso blend. Both of those places run great and huighly professional operations but the blends just aren't a good fit for my palate - YMMV. Espresso blends are so subjective... bu I think three best candidates to test initially would be Lighthouse, Hines and Victrola. They all roast and blend their own and have different styles but all are worh trying.

What are "half smokes"?

NO problem. Just get your coffee at Java Passage in the design Center - in the outh End just a few minutes drive from the Coffee Cup. WE brought our to-go cups from Java Passage right in to our table and they didn't blink. Java Passage is making some seriously good coffee - it comes from Counter Culture up in Durham.

Earlier in this thread I mentioned having no recollection of food trucks around Syracuse University - how wrong I was. Someone reminded me about the Wimpy Wagon. he was a neighborhood fixture for years but his food career came to an unceremonious end. Apparently he decided to boost sales by selling the very substance that induces munchies. It didn't take long for word of that to get around....

If you're operating under the assumption that you'll probably upgrade in a couple years to a better espresso machine... you could save the $30 now but resale value of the Gaggia will be better 2 - 3 years from now. I know it's a tough call. When I bought my Gaggia Baby and Solid Maestro grinder years ago I had set a limit of $450 - $500 total. If I knew then what I know now I might have waited until I could spend the $1400 that I eventually did for a really good E61 style machine and Mazzer. But then again... I was tired of spending $4 every day for a mediocre Starbucks latte and driving 5 miles to get it. As for grinders... I'd say save the $30 now by buying the Saeco and shop around for a Mazzer Mini. The Macap appears to be a good machine but the Mazzer still has some advantages and it's very well proven. They show up on eBay now and then but mostly what you'll see on eBay are used Mazzer Super Jolly's that are decommissioned Starbucks grinders. Those can be a good deal but typically need cleaning, adjustment, a set of burrs at $40 - $45 and a fe small parts like the doser mechanism spring. If you're even moderately mechanical the used Super Jolly can be a good choice but it's pretty darn massive for a home grinder - don't expect it to fit under a cabinet on your counter top - even if you have a shortened bean hopper.

Just last week I was staying for the night in Concord CA (bay area suburb of SF). Aksed the young lady at the hotel desk where I might find some interstign ethinc cusine in the area such as Vietnamese, Thai, Ethiopian or others. She assured me that "the plaza across the street has lots of great restuarants - must be a dozen fo them!". Yeah. Fuddruckers, On the Border, Claim Jumper Steak House, Krispy Kreme, Jamba Juice... not an independent among them and nothing more exotic than Mexican food.

I think there are some interesting African places up on and around 125th but I'm not sure which cross streets are involved. If you go a few blocks north and much further west you'll hit Dino BBQ - not fine dining but certainly a fun place to eat and by most counts their food is pretty good. We've been seeing mixed reports on Dino here on eG but I've seen enough favorable comments from folks whose opinions I respect that it seems worth a visit.

I always used mineral oil for my big butcher block cutting board but my new house had an old restaurant kitchen prep table whose top had been removed and converted into a peninsula top. It took lots of sanding and even more scraping to get the gunk out. I researche my options here and settled on John Boos Mystery Oil as the best treament option. The melted paraffin it includes (along with mineral oil) seems to yield a finish that is less sticky than mineral oil when the board is saturated and it seems, subjectively,, that it's better sealed. At $5.50 per bottle it's more costly than mineral oil but it goes further and a single bottle will last for quite awhile.

I'm not familiar with this model. I was involved for about six months with some folks that were investigating the home espresso machine repair arena (they actually launched the businsess on a trial basis but it proved not to be profitable enough). We saw a much larger number of requests for repairs to Saeco than for any other brand of machine, most of the problems being due to leaks. It's worth noting that, in the $250 and under price point, Saeco's are probably sold in much larger numbers than other brands here in the US. That might accoutn for the larger number of repair requests, but it's still enough to cause caution. The Gaggia Carezza is currently $199 with free shipping at any number of online espresso machine specialty retailers. It also has a small boiler and a fast warmup time but already comes with a non pressurized portafilter. IMHO it's worth the extra money - Gaggia has a well proven track record as a very reliable machine and one that can deliver great shots for the money - definitely more capable than the Saeco with pressurized portafilter. It's important with any machine, but especially with Gaggia, to use filtered water. They use dissimilar metals for the boiler and the base assembly to which it attaches. High mineral content in the water will exacerbate and promote corrosion of the seal between those two parts. Filter the water and you'll be fine. Don't forget to get a good grinder. By the way - did I mention that you'll need a good grinder?

Interesting about the sodium benzoate - there's definitely none in big jugs that are sold here in Syracuse. I buy the gallon jug and refrigerate it - keep it on hand for those occasions when I smoke a pork butt and serve a sizable group as many around here like plenty of sauce (I am not among them). I use no sauce on my ribs and little on my pulled pork but I'm in a minority. The freshness and quality of the beans are crucial in good espresso and Illy's is never fresh enough if you get it here in the US (it's doubtful that most people even get it within two weeks of roast date in Italy where it's packaged). But your poitn is well taken - there are places that can make a passable espresso using Illy's and others that turn out crap. I agree that bottled sauce can be good. Can you comment on the taste characteristics of the sauce at RUB? Is it sweet, spicy, savory? I know a mobile BBQ purveyor here in the Syracuse area who specializes mostly in BBQ chopped beef. People around here just love his "special sauce".... which, unbeknownst to them, is a 50/50 mix of KC Masterpiece and Bullseye!

I lack the experience to say whether most "authentic" BBQ places use sauce that's fresh made in-house or whether they use bottled stuff (their own or someone else's). But I've seen squeeze bottles in all kinds of 'cue joints - I don't think that alone is an indicator. Dino's standard sauce has the following ingredients listed if you buy it in the one gallon jug: Tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, brown sugar, cayenne, vinegar, garlic and other spices. But if you buy the small prepacked bottle that's sold in supermarkets there is also Xanthan Gum listed in the ingredients. There's also a noticeable difference to me in viscosity between the small bottle and the large jug. I don't happen to know whether they are using the large jugs to fill the small bottles on the table but I'd have to assume that they are using the large jugs in the kitchen. But I am curious - should there be a quantifiable or discernable taste difference between sauce prepared in large quanitities elsewhere and brought on site or "home-made" sauce produced on the spot in smaller batches? More to the point for me simply based on personal preference is how the meat stands on its own with no sauce at all. As for the experiences people are reporting at R.U.B. it would appear that brisket is one of the most challenging cuts to cook and get consistent results from. Speaking of consistency... that's an issue that pops up both here and on the Dino thread. It would seem that getting good consistent BBQ results in NYC might take some time after first opening. Does anyone here know how long it took Blue Smoke to finally nail it with their ribs?

No not at all. It's ready to go right out of the box and you should also consider just picking a spot to start your initial espresso grinding so the zero point can be determined. Some grinders such as a Mazzer Mini are actually "dialed in" at the factory and a small permanent sticker is placed at the zero point. My Mazzer was actually close to being dead on brand new when I began using it but I like ristretto shots ("restricted" pull accomplished by grinding finer to get an intensified shot of reduce fluid volume with the same pull time as a standard shot). I ended up setting mine a few notches finer than the zero point. What I was saying is that over time the burrs wear slightly and eventually you'll find yourself setting the grinder just a tad finer thsn you did originally in order to get the same grind level. But this is literally over a period of years.

I'm always amazed at how many people turn their noses up and say "Eeeew" when I mention goat. As it turns out... most have never eaten it. When I mention that it is vaguely reminisicent of lamb but usually with a more subtle and milder flavor they then become interested (unless they truly hate the taste of lamb). All the friends I've exposed to it have enjoyed it. Gotta love goat - I just wish I had time to cook some at home but for now I'll keep going to Bongo's Herk Hut here in town and order the take-out.

This topic was covered to some extent on this Rancilio Rocky vs Mazzer Mini thread over at the Coffeegeek Forums. The pertinent section is on Page 2 of the thread - scroll about halfway down. Here's an excerpt... The "0" starting point mentioned above is the numbered setting you have arrived at as the best average grind setting for espresso. It's determined by initially running the new grinder empty and then slowly moving the collar to finer grind settings. The moment you hear the burrs touching (the change in sound is self evident), back off a few clicks and grind enough fresh beans for one shot. Use consistent tamping pressure and keep grinding and pulling shots with slightly coarser grind until you achieve approximately a 25 - 28 second pull time for an shot of the desired fluid volume. This is the process known as "dialing in the grinder" and it should only need to be done either with a new grinder or when you replace worn burrs. As burrs get worn down you'll find yourself instinctively changing the settings slightly to account for that but we're talking about over a few years or longer for the average home user (i.e. on or two pounds of coffee through the grinder per week). The ratio mentioned above indicates that a gold mesh filter required a setting that was numerically 3.5 times higher than the established "zero point" for that grinder. I'd expect that a French Press might be just a bit coarser than that and a paper drip filter would be somewhere at a midpoint between the "zero point" and the French press setting. Hope this helps!

Yes - except the ones who strive for the most authentic drink (i.e. closest to what is served in Vietnam) mostly seem to use a different brand of condensed milk that's sold in some Asian markets. I've seen speculation in a thread here somewhere that there may actually be a quantifiable (i.e. something one can taste) in brands. Is that possible? I remain skeptical.

Might we get some nominations here for best restaurant interior description? There's a place in San Francisco (Farallon) that I've seen described as "Captain Nemo On Acid" decor. And yes.... that's what it really looks like. So what's the trippiest and wildest looking restaurant interior in NYC?

I have already done extensive experimentation with the topscretrecipes clone drink. I actually improved on it but I'm still looking for something that will lend itself to a moderately high volume commercial application. Have not yet done anything with sweetened condensed milk. That's a separate recipe and different style of drink to an extent but I'm putting it next on the list - in essence - a frozen Cafe Sua Da - Vietnamese iced coffee with condensed milk.

Nice article. But surely few folks apart from Canadians or those of us who came of age in Central/Northern NY state will know what "Molson Ex" is. And what a lovely ale it is... or was (I haven't had a drink in a few years and don't know how Molson Export Ale stands up to the current crop of specialty brews). Ahhhh.... and memories of the beloved Robot Coupe. The cooks at the first restaurant I worked in talked about the "Coop" as though it were a member of the staff.