Ciao Ling

Someone posted on Rocwiki of another place to get Banh Mi in Rochester. It's quite the little essay, so I had to give it a try. Pho Duong Dong on Otis Street already makes a nice one, but it's a little out of the way for me when I get a hankering and they're only open Thursday through Sunday. Now there is another place on 985 S. Clinton Avenue, a stretch of Clinton that is becoming home to several Vietnamese establishments. The store is a Vietnamese video, DVD rental store, but you'll notice that "sub" shop is also in its name and the counter is toward the back of the store. They're made fresh in front of you. They are of the Vietnamese pate, head cheese/mystery meat variety, with pickled carrots, daikon, jalapenos, cilantro, on a freshly split mini baguette roll. A nice sandwich for $3.

Great! Any details? ← Chef is Dan Martello fresh from a stint the NY Wine & Culinary center. Very solid chef, and their wine choices are pretty eclectic from the preliminary list I've seen. Nice price points ← Thanks for the tip. I googled and saw a City Newspaper blurb on the Good Luck restaurant. Not much on the website though. Will certainly try. I am also interested to see how the cocktail bar works out. Here's hoping that it will be Pegu Club quality.

Great! Any details?

know that there are many lovers of wine if not oenophiles in the Rochester area. There are also wine events and we are in the heart of Fingerlakes wine country. That said, to my knowledge we have no true wine bar/restaurant (the most notable nearest would be best epitomized by Jamie Kennedy's in Toronto). New York has too many to count with Molto Mario even getting on the bandwagon with Joe Bastianich with Otto Enoteca & Pizzeria. A place to socialize and experience new wines, have small plates of excellent food, without having to have a formal dinner. True there are smaller establishments who have a selection of wines by the glass, but the food is an afterthought or the wines. Most importantly the vibe here seems to be either a "bar" or a "restaurant". Morrell wines in NYC has a wine bar with 2000 selections and 150 wines by the glass.We have the makings. Century Wines has now moved to new big digs in Pittsford under the umbrella of one of the Wegmans. Tastings restaurant is moving to new digs across from the Pittsford Wegmans. This would seem to be an opportunity. Gordon would probably know best of what's out there and any potential goings on.

Cocoa Via, a chocolate bar made by Mars, has been on the market since 2005 and touted as other chocolates for being healthier (see here) ...antixoidants, blah, blah, but to be honest I usually don't go for the marketing hype, that is until recently after learning of a recent study in a respected journal where two bars of this particular chocolate a day was able to lower cholesterol and blood pressure by a modest degree. Cocoa via is different in that it is fortified with plant sterols which have been known to lower cholesterol. I figured what the heck, let's give it a try. The important part for me, it satisfies as a good dark chocolate, not too sweet with a nice bittersweet flavor and mouth feel. Not your overly sweet cloying kids milk chocolate and not beset by the weird aftertaste of some nutritional bars. At 100 calories a bar, it certainly satisfies my now and again chocolate fix and I won't feel guilty.

Living in upstate New York, the Cornell food scientist Robert Baker's death got a lot of attention. He is the unsung inventor of what became the McNugget- by getting the breading to stick to the processed chicken. His goal in life was to popularize the consumption of poultry. He popularized ground poultry and all processed products with poultry such as turkey dogs and ham. He also created the recipe for State Fair Chicken, the key being Cornell Chicken barbecue sauce which is simple but good (apparently good enough for presidents, although I wouldn't call Bill Clinton a gourmet).

Went last wed - BBQ ribs were good but the slaw wasn't that fresh, had a Wagyu burger with excellent bacon, wings were good (nice amount of heat in the sauce) Pizzas were both quite good - nice crust, excellent quality tomatoes in the sauce, correct amount of cheese, etc. Chef is formerly of Brio/Pomodoro - many of the servers are Rochester veterans. No liquor license yet - but no corkage either Not a Veneto fan since their move - find their pies rather bland and inconsistent although when they are good - they are good. ← Went for lunch to the Gatehouse Cafe during a period of horizontal sleet rushing through the Village Gate. Atmosphere was nice. The bar will be great once they have a liquor license. Salad was fine, but it's the pizza I came for. I found the pizza to be just OK but nothing special. We went for the classic Margherita. Although right out of the oven, the crust was not crisp at all. I don't think the oven was hot enough. Tomato flavor was good, but there was way too much cheese. Basil was a small throw of chiffonade. I think they have all the right ingredients and equipment, but the staff who man the pizza station need to put it all together. It's early. I'll try again after several weeks.

Went last wed - BBQ ribs were good but the slaw wasn't that fresh, had a Wagyu burger with excellent bacon, wings were good (nice amount of heat in the sauce) Pizzas were both quite good - nice crust, excellent quality tomatoes in the sauce, correct amount of cheese, etc. Chef is formerly of Brio/Pomodoro - many of the servers are Rochester veterans. No liquor license yet - but no corkage either Not a Veneto fan since their move - find their pies rather bland and inconsistent although when they are good - they are good. ← Good to hear about the pizza there- will have to give it a try. Too bad about Veneto- I haven't been there in a while. We should think about bringing back voting for pizza in the Rochester environs. One of my favorites for a NY style crust was Brandani's on West Henrietta Road, but that was when Papa Brandani was making the pies, no longer

Has anyone been to the new Gate House Cafe which is now open at the Village Gate off Goodman? It's not a complex menu, but I'm most interested in the pizza. According to this blurb in the City Newspaper, it appears that they aim to achieve a true pizza napoletana with italian flour and the high heat of a wood-fired oven. I wonder how it will compare to Veneto.

One last bit from the Sobe WTF, wherin St. Anthony calls the Food Network "Dog Murderers". "They killed my poor fluffy!" He gets all sensitive, soft, and tender. Miami kind of brings that out in people. Daily Cocaine-Scroll down to February 27th ← It is on although the audio is not very good. Bourdain also gets interviewed on the SOBE Golden Clog awards that he and Michael Ruhlman hatched on Eater.com.

I believe the recent issue of Cook's Illustrated reviewed Pam Professional. I don't have the issue in front of me, but as others have indicated, I think it is the lecithin in most sprays that causes build-up. Instead, Pam Professional uses partially hydrogenated oils, i.e. trans fats, to stand up to the heat. Cooks Illustrated thought that when high heat was required, the small amounts of trans fats would not be of concern.

I found this recent discussion of a recent Stanford Study interesting. Knowledge of price affected how the subjects felt pleasure from the wine. There is also a link to another discussion of how our preconceived notions of quality from particular origins of wine affect our opinions. True oenophiles may fault the studies for the test subjects lack of wine sophistication- but have they had an MRI with their wine lately? Clearly the true test of any wine is a blind test but short of organized wine tastings or competitions, this is not how we drink. Wine stores also heavily advertise the 100 point ratings systems. Will I savor a wine more because I know it is a RP 98 vs.an RP 91?

I just saw this gadget on sharper image's website. I wondered how others stored their store bought herbs if they don't have an herb garden or use all the herbs right away.

On the Mikasa website, the Select and Open Up lines of Oenology stemware are described but don't indicate they are made of Kwarx- except in the care section of the website, specifically if you don't want to scroll through it: "CRYSTAL GUIDE Mikasa Oenology ranges offer a new approach to wine-tasting - more modern, more instintive and more convivial. These products are innovative, with new sizes, designs which cater for all types of wine, and are made from an exclusive material - Mikasa Oenology is an invitation to a voyage during which you will discover all the sensual richness of the vast diversity of wine produced in vineyards all over the world. Mikasa Oenology glasses Open Up and Select ranges are made from Kwarx. Kwarx seems to vanish, to enable the range of colours in each wine to be appreciated. Glasses are the most transparent in the world, due to the fact that they are completely colorless. Kwarx keeps its shiny sparkle wash after wash. Extraordinary brilliance that has been tested in laboratory conditions over more than two thousand industrial washes. Kwarx is incredibly resistant under everyday conditions. Solidity is obtained by an invisible but very strong bond between the bases, the stems and the bowls of glasses, which results in a perfectly smooth surface which does not have weak points."

Last fall we put in a patio with a gazebo off of a pizza oven and got to really use it this past summer (this is upstate NY and not Texas!). I am not handy, so we worked with a local design firm after getting estimates for the work. The bulk of the cost was for the masonry that the pizza oven is set into. We decreased some of the cost by using a cultured stone facade instead of real stone, although we have natural limestone counters for work space. The gazebo is made of pressure treated lumber with decorative fiberglass columns. The roof is vented through a cupola and we have a ceiling fan for times the chimney draw might not be as developed, for example when you just start a fire. Our oven is by Mugnaini (which is also used by Chez Panisse, although ours is the residential model). The Forno Bravo oven page is a good source of info with an active forum. You can also find tips from other wood fired oven owners such as here or by joining the Yahoo Brick Oven Group. The forums at Pizzamaking.com are also terrific with many who have wood fired ovens and too many recipes to count from pizza fanatics. Youtube also has some great videos of pizzas in the oven. We are still learning to use our oven beyond pizza. Breads are another whole learning experience- still getting the hang of it. Some pics below. One of my best investments. Good luck. You won't regret it (unless you have to move).

Allright, don't you know you're making us city dwellers a bit jealous, with the backyard pizza oven and chest freezer . Anyway, when I make a batch of dough, I generally double it and freeze my own. I've also found that Whole Foods frozen pizza dough (I think it's $1.49 for a one-pound ball) works pretty well, especially when defrosted as Ciao Ling says - overnight in the fridge. ← I used to live in NYC. I am jealous of not having a Patsy's, DiFara's, Grimaldi's, Totonno's, John's, and the list goes on... and makes me drool thinking of it. I do love my oven though...

Just saw them - what a strange shape; the Mikasa line is so bizarre... Too bad. ← I wanted some break resistant stemware for larger parties. The Mikasa Kwarx line has now expanded beyond the "bizarre" shape. I picked up a case of general purpose glasses at an on-line restaurant supply store. Thus far I am quite satisfied- no breakage yet. They have numerous styles.

The comments here mirror the follow-up article interviewing Manhattanites in The NY Times: "In conversations at sushi restaurants and stores that sell sushi, some customers said they were considering changing their eating habits. Some said that they themselves did not eat much sushi, but that they planned to tell spouses or significant others to eat less and to be more concerned about the cumulative effects of mercury in fish. Some shrugged, saying the test results were just one more thing to be concerned about in a world of things to be concerned about."

I am an erstwhile (weekend) pizza fanatic and even have a backyard wood-fired pizza oven. I dabble with all the dough recipes including using preferments from the pizza gods at Pizzamaking.com but for those times when convenience is paramount, I have found the frozen dough balls sold at the snack concession stand at Sam's Club to be good. It's the dough that they use to make their pizzas. If you want pizza the next day, throw a ball in the refrigerator to thaw. You will have to buy a case of 20 balls for around $15. I store them in a chest freezer. A half ball will make a thin crust pizza for a home oven pizza stone. If you combine dough balls, you can make a beautiful focaccia. For a sheet pan, I also recommend olive oil and a dusting of cornmeal, which gives a nice crunch.

Um... did you read the article? Some of this fish had mercury levels high enough that the government could take it off the market. One of the sushi places had fish with enough mercury (and pieces large enough) that the RfD would be exceeded by eating only two pieces of sushi. Would you care if it were lead instead or mercury? Mercury isn't something that is "connected to health problems" like eating lots of saturated fat. Mercury is a cumulative heavy metal poison that has a well-understood affect on the body, and eating a dozen pieces of high mercury tuna sushi three times a week would definitely be dangerous. ← I think what bothers me more is somehow this becomes "news" now? In healthcare we have been telling pregnant women and parents for about as long as I can remember now to avoid tuna! I kind of get pissed off when I see suddenly the levels are so high they could pull it! for crying out loud they have been high! my whole generation was raised on heavy metal and pesticides ..sad but true .. I was quite sick a while back and the doctor insisted on having heavy metal levels drawn because of where I had lived ...in a very contaminated area ..where kids are now being told to take shoes off outside to avoid bringing toxic soil into the house...for almost 20 years we ate all my garden produce.... thinking it was safe and healthier than store bought...my levels were below the national average was what I was told....thank goodness it was kind of unnerving for a while thinking I could have poisoned my family! the bottom line is for people who eat a dozen pieces of high mercury tuna three times a week ...DON"T! I am jealous on the one hand because I love tuna and would love to eat that much ..but it is imo not a good nutritional practice to eat that much of anything during a week and to spread out the wealth so you dont accumulate toxic levels and I think it is time to quit acting like this is such a surprise is all ... ← I agree with hummingbirdkiss (beautiful name by the way) that the dangers of mercury in certain fish has been known as in this summary from a Consumer Reports Article, but the levels are not of the magnitude as seen in the NY Times article, most likely because canned fish is not premium bluefin, but albacore or yellowfin. I think what I found amazing is as slkinsey indicated- that 2 pieces of high quality tuna, could put you well above government "safe" limits such that the government might actually restrict its sale (like Lake Ontario PCB laden fish).

As long as everyone makes an informed risk-benefit decision- to each (or eat) at his/her own risk. I live in Rochester. There are sport fisherman who eat their catch from Lake Ontario no matter what variety despite fish that are known to be laden with PCBs and dioxin with recommendations in some cases not to eat any at all or at most 1 serving/month.

This recent article in the NY Times points to the dangerously high mercury levels in raw tuna samples in several NYC sushi restaurants in NYC. It even appears that the finer establishments may be more prone to higher levels probably because they have access to the largest bluefin tunas. Blue Ribbon Sushi had the highest level in the testing. We all aim to frequent sushi restaurants that have the freshest fish, but how to assess toxins without a lab?

Best American BBQ opinions in the Rochester area anyone? I haven't done BBQ for a while and decided to splurge and clog my arteries but want to target it efficiently. Dinosaur was my favorite, but always thought the original Syracuse location was better. I tried Beale Street once but wasn't blown away, but that was several years back. Ditto Sticky Lips. Further afield, I haven't tried Merchant Street Smokehouse in Brockport or Taste of Texas in Spencerport. Any recent visits to these or others and ranking/votes? And please only meats with a real smoke ring, not sweet liquid smoked sauce covered imitators... Tony Roma's RIP.

For Dano's on Seneca fans- there is apparently a beer dinner this Sunday. From the Rochester D&C: BEER DINNER AT DANO'S Dano's Heuriger on Seneca is hosting a beer dinner with Wagner Valley Brewing Co. Sunday. The event starts at 4 p.m. with a tour of the Lodi brewery at 9322 Route 414 in Lodi, Seneca County, then dinner at Dano's, 9564 Route 414, Lodi, at 5 p.m. The cost is $50 (tax and gratuity not included). The pairings include soft pretzel with duck rillettes with an amber lager, lamb goulash with dopplebock and a cheese course with oatmeal stout. Call Dano's at (607) 582-7555 for reservations. For a complete menu, go to www.danosonseneca.com.

I read a blurb on Chowhound about a non-profit group in North Carolina: "Women Helping Other Women" which makes fruitcakes. Their Website shows the cakes which appear more fruit laden and less nutty- a little less traditional. They all sound appealing. I am will be giving them a try: the Berries N Cherries N Nuts and The Chocolate Berries cakes. Nothing like eating fruitcake for a good cause! ← Here is a little background on the group and their fruitcake origins that I found on the web.