phaelon56

Perhaps this will help.... Binghamton Press and Sun-Bulletin list of menu links

Thanks for the fascinating explanation. This particular place serves an excellent Hue beef noodle soup as well. Perhaps the family is from that region? Are "broken rice" dishes specific to that region? I also had fried butterfish there last week but it wasn't awe-inspiring - just very tasty whole fried fish. I think I've been accepted as a regular - they no longer bother to bring me cutlery - only chopsticks. And they start making my cafe sua da when they see me walk in the door

I spent about ten years in the retail business, standing all day on concrete floors, often in one place for extended periods of time. Having experimented with many types of footwear including the "postal worker shoes" offered by an industrial/commercial shoe supplier, I find the clogs to be the absolute best support shoe on the planet. Look around to see what chefs, surgeons and others who stand on their feet for extended periods of time have settled on wearing - clogs are at the top of the list. I now work four early morning shifts every week as a barista befotre heading in to my "day job". We have shock mats behind the bar but I still wear my Dansk clogs every day and my legs/feet never ever bother me, even if I do an extended shift. Considering the fact that I'm nearly 50 years old and could lose a few pounds, that's impressive. I happen to love the closed heel style of the Dansk product but you can get that brand, Ecco, Birkenstock and some others all at good prices at Shoe Mania. They have a store on the southern end of Union Square at the corner of Broadway and 14th right by Virgin records.

I do what Jinmyo does. At least that's what I'll begin doing now. Why fix what is not broken?

Wow. I'm ready to sell my collection of NASCAR collectors plates (complete with certificates of authenticity)just so I can afford this Colelctible food items that aren't consumed. Who'da thunk? I know there are folks who collect bottles of hot sauce for the cool labels but this latest one is way out there.

I just tried a new dish (new to me) at my favorite local Vietnamese place. It was described as "Shrimp Rolls". Ther was some sort of ground or finely chopped shrimp in it (but perhaps ground pork as well) The seasoning was done with a deft hand and there was not a trace of oiliness despite the fact that they were fried. What really intrigued me was the "wrapper". They use a some sort of rice flour that is tossed on a griddle and briefly cooked. It spreads ut with holes or openigns in it and takes on a lacy appearance. Small sections of this are then wrapped around the filling and fried. It offers a fascinating crunchy texture quite unlike any other "rolls" that I've tried. Guppy - have you seen or do you ever make the little "bird's nests" that are composed of matchstick julienned sweet potato which is fired into a small semi-spherical shape and has a grileld shrimp parked inside of each nest? Served with lettuce leaves and mint for wrapping and eating. I love those and have seen them in only one place (in NJ when I lived there).

eGulleteer Glenn Susser's new cafe - Melt seems to be getting some nice publicity lately. He got a mention on Bob Lape's WCBS (AM station in NYC) radio show today and is due for another bit of coverage tomorrow. There was also a small mention recently in the Daily News in their column The Latest Dish. He'll be getting some press this in the Star Ledger this Friday but I don't know the details of that. I've been staying in touch with Glenn off-line to check on the progress of coffee equipment I assisted him with prior to his opening . His business seems to be developing nicely but it's fascinating to see how things can grow and evolve in different directions than one can predict or project when in the pre-opening phases. He's mentioned a few of those issues in his replies on this thread - hopefully when he has a bit of time he'll be able to elaborate a bit more. I think it's very educational for us "armchair restaurateurs" and prospective entrepreneurs to see how differently things can work out than anticipated - not bad just different. I'm hoping to be passing through that neighborhood on April 1st and will report back on my meal after I finally get there.

Again... not in NYC but worth noting... at Applegate farms do NOT settle for the pre-packed ice cream they sell. The hand-packed pints are the same stuff they sell by the cone and it is exceptional but the pre-packed is only a step or two above supermarket dreck. I agree about the gelato at Otto - it's fantastic. Although they're not an ice cream place I once had a malted ice cream for dessert when eating in the front room at Gramercy Tavern. It was exceptional - the bets ice cream I've ever had in NYC.

You're welcome! I would have suggested the Andreja but it is a few hundred $$ above your target price range. That said... you're making a wise choice. When purchasing a good espresso machine a few hundred $$ is not significant as this is a very long term investment. I'm not a hardware geek but but I do love good equipment and the subtle nuances of improvment offered by better features are always appealing to me. Despite that, I've had no urge to upgrade my Isomac Tea to a better machine since purchasing it three or four years ago. I could get tiny improvements in features but I wouldn't get better espresso by doing an upgrade. Four mornings every week I pull shots on a $15K La Marzocco but I can still make shots as good or better at home on Saturday mornings One of the benefits of buying from Chris is that you often get features not yet available from other vendors. He has relationships with some of the Italian manufacturers and often demands (and receives) specific improvements for the machine models that he sells. The Andreja Premium has a boatload of upgrades on the internal mechanicals that make it a more robust machine than some of its $1,000 competetitors (including the Isomac that I own).

Definitely not but perhaps that has changed? You... of all people Jo - may be able to answer that one. But what the heck would a truck serve to Vassar students? I don't think Syracuse University has any food trucks but the density of food offerings at the edge of campus on Marshall Street pretty much takes care of that need. Cornell's Hot Truck has always gotten press but they never seem to mention Louie's Lunch Truck, a good and greasy institution. It was there when I worked at Cornell back in the early 90's and is still open. The newest "truck" option at Cornell is the new Gimme Coffee Espresso Bar Trailer outside of Mann library. Very cool. I wish they'd had it when I was on campus every day!

I think putting the upper part of the pot into the lower portion before allowing the lower pot to get hot will most likely resolve this. I did read somewhere that it's recommended to wet the gasket before inserting the upper pot. I've tried this but the water appears to just roll off the gasket (as it should). I suspect the wetting technique is more helpful for older gaskets that have dried out a bit over time.

I think Matouk's may also have mango in it. I love the stuff and was introduced to it in a local Jamaican restaurant. Most stores that sell Jamaican or West Indian groceries will stock it. I think there may be two varieties - my favorite is the one that's thicker and sort of green in color with flecks of red and orange. Looks almost like a chutney but it's fiery. Very good on egg dishes and also in rice 'n peas but one has to mix it in thoroughly to avoid getting blasted by the heat.

I finally purchased some "real" balsamic vinegar this past year and was amazed at the difference between that and the cheap stuff I'd been using previously. I still use the cheaper stuff for basic salad dressings as it works well enough for me and fits my budget but the better quality balsamic goes far for the money due to the limited amount needed. My favorite use is on fresh mozarella and sliced tomato salads. I drizzle just a bit of a good peppery olive oil onto the slices and then a very thin ribbon of the balsamic. great contrasta and amazing flavor. I also like using a tiny drizzle of it atop simple grilled fish or chicken breast. It adds a nice layer of flavor without being overpowering.

I'll defer to those with better knowledge of Boston for Question #1 although I did have a very tasty cappuccino at Caffe Vittoria on Hanover Street when I last visited Beantown. I don't recall having pastries - I think we just picked a good looking bakery at random and ate one while walking on the street. As for keeping the coffee warm... get a thermal carafe (1 liter size if plenty), and preheat it with very hot tap water while the vac pot is brewing. Dump the preheat water and immediately pour your extra brewed coffee into it as soon as brewing is done. It'll stay good and hot for at least an hour (but subtleties of flavor decline a bti after 20 minutes or so). The local discount mega-stores such as Walmart and Target no longer stock thermal carafes (at least not in the Syracuse area) - they only have the larger airpot carafes for serving a group. In Syracuse go to Ra-Lin Discount on Burnet Ave. They have at least one style possibly two. I got a killer deal on a close-out of the Zoriushi carafe - about $12 for a $25 carafe. Not sure if they have any of that one left but they should have others that are in the $12 - $20 range.

It's a decent "superauto" and offers the tremendous convenience factor of that machine category but no superauto, not even the $15,000 machines that Starbucks uses these days, can produce espresso nearly as good as a conventional machine and grinder. With the Saeco running about $1300.... you could get a high end "prosumer" machine with the E61 grouphead feature and a top quality grinder for about the same money or a bit less. With a minimal amount of practice the results from a good grinder and tradtional semi-auto machine will totally blow away anything you can get from even the very best super-auto machines. See this Least Expensive Machine for Decent Espresso? thread for some ideas.

I see three good options in your price range A) Isomac Rituale from 1st-Line B) Nuova Simonelli Oscar from Chris Coffee C) Expobar Office Pulser from Aabree Coffee All three vendors have excellent customer service reputations and all three machines will make excellent espresso with a bit less tweaking than the Rancilio Silvia (not better espresso but much tweaking to get most accurate brew temp). All three have the HX or heat exchanger feature - they can brew and steam simultaneously and therfore are good for milk drinks. I've served up cappa's and latte's for a party of six in short order (about 6- 7 minutes to make six drinks with practice). A party of 12 would be easy enough to handle but you'd want to serve the drinks in groups of four and allow about 15 minutes in total. For a party of 25 -30 I assume people are getting drinks at intervals? If so these machines will be fine but if not you'll need a two group commercial machine to make 25 - 30 drinks in 10 or 15 minutes. The Oscar is the ugly duckling of the bunch. The Expobar represents IMHO the best overall value and the Isomac is a bit nicer looking than the others and worth the extra bit of money. They are all at or under $1,000. They will all make, straight out of the gate (with a practice session or two), espresso shots that are better than you'll get in many indendent cafe's. With a moderate amount of experience, good fresh high quality beans and a good grinder.... you'll be making betetr espresso at home which is as good or better than you can get in all but a handful of the best independent cafe's. You MUST invest in a good grinder. It's not a "maybe". Allocate $170 - $400 for the grinder and you'll be glad you did. Nemox at the low end for $170... Rancilio Rocky in the mid range for about $275 and Mazzer Mini at the high end fr about $400. If you enjoy good espresso drinks this is a very realistic investment. About three years ago I purchased an Isomac Tea (less sexy than the Rituale but functionally very similar) and a Mazzer Mini. It was about $1400 at the time - money I really had to scramble to come up with and I cringed at spending that much. Since then I have never ever once questioned that investment. I enjoy great espresso at home with a minimal amount of fuss and this equipment will most likely outlive me if properly cared for.

I cook it hotter (usually at about 450 F) and also longer (about 45 minutes) than the recipe specifies. I also typically use two separate cookie sheets for the sliced floret/stalk pieces which have the crumbly bits mixed in. I start flipping about 15 minutes into the process and at about thrity minute I try to separate the crumbly now well browned bits and the very thin slices from the thicker less cooked ones. This gives me one cookie sheet of totally golden brown and crunchy bits/slices at the 30 - 35 minute mark and the second sheet comes out of the oven about 15 - 20 minutes later. There is indeed a point at which it just changes and the magical flavor/texture transformation takes place. But I don't care for truly burned pieces that get carbon black - there is in fact a point at which it is overcooked. Separating the bigger and small bits has helped me get more uniform results.

I'm a creature of habit and tend to strive for the same shot characteristics nearly all the time because, apart from the occasional straight shot or breve machiatto, I nearly always drink a six ounce cappa/latte in an Illy cup and use a 1.5 ounce double ristretto shot. I'm guessing that the cafe au lait popular in Europe typically relies on either a lungo (long pull espresso with more fluid volume than a regular espresso shot) or more often, it is made and consumed in the home where people are using stovetop espresso makers (aka "moka pots"). Moka coffee is probably ideal for cafe au lait because it's typically a strong, rich dark coffee - ideal for cutting through the milk. I think to make one from an espresso machine you might experiment with a somewhat coarser grind and try for about a 4 - 5 oz fluid volume in the cup with a 25 - 28 second pull time. This should yield what is known as a cafe crema - close to being a "regular" cup of coffee but richer and stringer with some crema on it. By the way... when we were in Paris this January (first time visit), my GF ordered cafe au lait a number of times and it was lousy on all except one occasion - really watered down tasting and weak. I was surprised by that but was advised that cafe au lait is typically consumed at breakfast time in the home in France - most who order it out are tourists or visitors.

Last night I went returned to the local joint that has the "smoky paella" discussed earlier in this thread. Had a stuffed fresh artichoke as my starter this time (had assorted Spanish cheeses on the first visit). It was outrageously good - far better than any preparation of artichoke that I've ever had anywhere else - enough to make artichoke lovers like me swoon with delight. In a previous post on this thread Wolfert said The arroces she refers to is the creamier less dry type of paella (if indeed you can call it that as it's traditionally cooked in earthenware vessles rather than paella pans. On my return trip to La Cena last night (see a snapshot of their menu here) I ordered Paella Mariscos again. This time I requested that the smoked paprika be cut back by 75% and also asked for a towel to cover the pan for five minutes or so after it was served (they serve it straight from the oven). The difference was dramatic. The smokiness that I found objectionable on the previous visit had been reduced to the point where it now complemented the other more subtle flavor components. The clams were perfect this time (slightly undercooked on the first visit but I think sitting under the towel did the trick). Shrimp and mussels both excellent and the baby calamari were sublime. The calasparra rice had the right amount of tooth and best of all - they were extremely generous this tiem with the fresh snap peas - perfectly coked and so naturally sweet that they damn near cried out in my mouth when I ate them. Am I content now? yes and no. I believe this preparation style was somehwre between an arroces and a paella. there was no creaminess but there was some concerntrated broth in the pan (very tasty I admit) and no soccarat at all. I also didn't have time to drive 20 minutes for cured chorizo and slip some to the chef to add to the dish (this restaurant does not serve red meat but the chef assured me he'd add the chorizio if I brought some). I can state with confidence that this preparation is far closer to what appears to be an authentic and traditional prepartion than any of the stuff served at numerous places in Newark, where Portuguese and Brazilian food is abundant.. Next week I'll try the other local suspect and try to do a real comparison between the two styles.

Keep in mind that for milk drinks the milk won't come out tasting exactly the same because they use Parmalat milk in most places over there (not to mention that the diet of the dairy cows is different). Are you trying to reproduce the flavor profile you get in France or in Italy? In France it tends to be thinner bodied and a longer pull than in Italy - probably a long shot with about 2.5 oz of fluid from a double. Also worth mentioning - if you have or can get access to an accurate digital kitchen scale it's a good idea to initially weigh the beans per batch until you get a good feel for what level of filling the portafilter will yield about 17 grams of grounds per double shot. There was a very informative article at Coffeegeek a couple years ago in which Alan Frew (an espresso machine dealer) discussed Small Espresso Tweaks. It was specifically about his experience in trying to uncover the cause of noticeable shot quality variation on Silvia machines that he was pretesting before selling them. The major factor turned out to be the weight or amount of beans per shot. It's a quick read and very worthwhile. I think a great majority of the more popular places in Paris use Illy. It happens to be the leading brand in Italy, along with Lavazza, but in the US it's overpriced and more often than not it's tough to get a can that is really fresh (i.e. recently roasted). Illy has a fairly mild flavor profile which is agreeable to many people. Fortune Elkins just posted an interesting Illy related comment in her Bread Coffee Chocolate Yoga Blog She's referring to the Primo's Organic Espresso blend from Doma Coffee Perhaps worth checking out? I think an espresso blend with a relatively light roast (i.e. not dark and oily) and no robusta in the mix might have the sort of flavor profile you seek (many Italian roaster add about 10% good quality robusta to get a slight bitter undertone and more abundant crema in the host - some US blenders do as well). You also might check out the "North Italian Roast Style Espresso, Daterra Farm," from Terroir Coffee. It's a single origin in that it comes from one estate but there are a couple different bean types in the blend. It also happens to be a Brazilian - same country of origin that Illy uses for sourcing most or all of its beans. Please note that I'm not putting Illy and Terroir in the same class - I think Terroir is head and shoulders above Illy in terms of quality and you'll find the price per pound to be about the same.

I recall reading some mixed reports on Azucar recently (can't recall where). You might also consider Rebecca's in Edgewater - if I recall correctly it has a nice upscale atmosphere and good Cuban food. By the way.... it's smokefree

I agree completely. I have a Mini as well as a Mazzer Major and a couple of Super Jolly's. But I want a Robur. I haven't personally used the Robur but many people whose opinions I highly respect seem to concur that it offers a slight advantage over the other Mazzer grinders for espresso. But it truly is overkill for a home machine. The Mini, OTOH, is good for a small cafe use and the ultimate home grinder. It is indeed a "grinder for life'.

I'm no more horrified by this concept than any other franchise concept. Done correctly a franchise will typically offer a level of consistency one can't always expect to find in an independent local operation but it also nearly guarantees that you'll never find true excellence, flashes of genius or even a distinctly recognizable experience that makes the experience at one location unique. Done correctly a franchise can offer predictability and an absence of absence of total mediocrity but there's typically a price paid for that. If they did it right and I was to spot one after a long day on the road with business travel.... and it was close to the hotel... and I was ravenously hungry... I'd probably head right in and let the boss buy me some rodizio. Consider the coffee beans destined for the commodity coffee market (I'm talking decent arabica beans but these are ones being graded for sale to huge conglomerates). The cuppers who assess and grade these beans cup to look for an absence of defects . In contrast, the cuppers who grade for the specialty market (better quality and more quality conscious regional and local roasters) are looking for the presence of exceptional and unique qualities. I find that to be a very good analogy for the franchise/quality independent restaurant paradigm. But you knew I'd bring coffee into the discussion, didn't you? I have in fact been to the Dallas TX location of this chain. The hot/cold buffet salad bar was markedly inferior to the one at Charrascaria Plataforma and not even quite up to the level offered by places like Seabra's Rodizio on McCarter Highway (Rte 21) in Newark NJ. I found the meat to be close if not equal to the quality at Plataforma but my meals there were separated by about two years and it's hard to assess accurately. Atmosphere at the Dallas location of Texas de Brazil was a bit dark and tables were bunched far too close together. All told, it was less appealing than Plataforma and IMHO the service was less professional.

1st Line does indeed have it and they're a very reputable outfit - on my list of the top three espresso gear vendors in the US. I just don't nose around much these days in the machines Forum at Coffeegeek or on the various vendor's web sites to keep up with what's new - I'm too busy keeping track of what's new in commercial gear. It looks to be a very good value at $169 but no match for the Mazzer Mini or Super Jolly. Some phrases have become cliches due to repetitive usage but they still hold true. All the cliche's that advise things such as "get the best grinder you can possibly afford"... don't skimp on the grinder"... or "spend more on the grinder than you possibly think you can justify".... are true. It really makes a difference - a big one. Unlike some pieces of gear such as espresso machines where gear heads always want something bigger, better, newer and with more bells and whistles.... (although I am not in that category)... buying a really good grinder is a one time purchase. If you get a good one the only thing you could possibly get by moving to a much pricier model is a beefier motor better suited for heavy duty commercial use. Oops... did I just say that? I really would like one of these Mazzer Robur Grinder-Doser because of the conical burr design (said to produce espresso shots superior to the flat burrs used in most commercial grinders)and the low RPM's of the motor (slower speed means less chance of "burning" the coffee from rapidly rotating burrs). The next time I have $2,500 - $3,000 burning a hole in my pocket I'll be sure to pick one up

If ythe grounds are wet after you've first added the water but are dry the next day... can't you just cover the top of the device with plastic wrap and a rubber band to seal it or perhaps use that new "press 'n wrap" stuff? It makes sense that some of the grounds would get dry if tyhe surface is exposed to air because the grounds have absorbed some of the water. When you make coffee by hot brew methods the amount of fluid that ends up in the cup or pot is always less than what you poured in because some is absorbed. I suspect that if you let your empty Melitta or drip maker filter cone sit overnight and it was not sealed air-tight the surface of those grounds would be dry by morning - but they might still be damp underneath. I haven't a clue about the stirring issue.