mikeczyz

it works! post more! mike

gary danko's glazed oyesters

My brother and I just bought a pound and a half of chicken livers. Any ideas for a easy dinner? THanks mike

fatguy- I've been to danko's. Really, really spectacular service. The food was real good too. I'm not too familar with many fine dining places, but I thought it was fantastic. I had a chance to visit the fifth floor as my gf's birthday was a few weeks ago and we were gonna celebrate, but we visited La Folie instead. Nice food. If it were up to me, i woulda liked to have been to fifth floor to try gras' food which I've heard so many good things about. maybe next year. mike

how about san francisco magazine ratings? i believe they're on a four star scale as well. i tend to trust their critics more than mr. bauer at the chronicle. mike btw, masa's and the french laundry have four stars. fifth floor just picked up their award for the best restaurant in the city, i believe. fatguy- have you eaten at danko and fifth floor?

What's your definition of four star? Mobil four star? San Francisco Chronicle four stars? or are you just looking for fine dining in general? mike

Not that this is really related to the topic, but if one wants to define northwest cuisne by it's ingredients, there are still tons of things for chefs to discover. I grew up in Alaska and one summer, I hung out with some Native Americans in Sitka, a town on the Alaskan panhandle. We garnished food with seal oil, I tried eskimo style salmon jerky, ate tons of little oddities from the sea that they had been eating for generations, fresh salmon berries, chewed muktuk (whale blubber)....tons of things that chefs still don't know about. i wonder if the average consumer would be open to whale blubber tho...my guess is probably not. mike don't let me forget fresh salmon cooked with strange wild herbs, and my favorite of all, beer battered halibut.

i put my notes on my meals at cafe panisse, la folie and farallon on egullet. hope they help. mike

Agreed. Knowledge about the development of musical style, and other historical precedent always makes a performance more interesting (not always better) when I hear someone deviate from the norm. mike

Nina- I find it interesting about the interplay between the two. Whenever someone asks me for a favorite recording of a certain piece, I can never decide. Take Tchaikovsky's violin concerto. If I'm feeling frisky, I may reach for a performance of Kogan or Heifetz. If I'm in the mood for something a little more laid back, a little more broad, I may find an Oistrakh recording. THe interplay between how I'm feeling, my mood, and the very personal approach every great artist has to a certain work is something I've been interested in for a while. But perhaps I've already said too much for a website devoted to food. mike

My mom used to spend a few days drying ducks for Peking Duck on New Year's Eve. Scrumptious. SHe would make the little pancakes, brown sauce, cut some scallions, and the duck was usually just an appetizer! After the duck came loads of sauteed shrimps, rice, sometimes sukiyaki, tons of food. And her chinese style fried chicken on my birthdays was a real treat too! not the fanciest food, but comfort food deliciously prepared. mike

FG- WAS a professional musician. I've decided to give it up to try and become a professional waiter. Serious. I'm not kidding. But that's a whole different story. mike

Having been a violinist in different orchestras for the past 15+ years, I can assure you that the conductor is not rendered irrelevant on the night of the performance as FG would have us all believe. It's been posted on egullet before about how some terrific dishes are created under the stress of the service, and how well some of these improvisatory dishes work. the same happens in concert performances. it's true that most of the work has been done in rehearsal (tempos, dynamics, voicing, conducting a section in cut time instead of the usual meter etc...) but maybe on the night of the performance, the conductor thinks the orchestra could play a section a little faster, maybe he gives the oboe soloist a little more freedom...it's these little differences that can turn a pedestrian performance into something magical. music is always developing. I just read george solti's memoirs (known mostly for his tenure as the music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra) and he wrote about how his interpretations were always changing. while solti's changes happened over the course of years, smaller changes can also occur on the night of a performance mike

i don't like the fact that when someone tells drrevenue he might be wrong and might consider giving the restaurant a second chance, he starts to vent. did he post expecting us to all be on his side so as to make himself feel better? mike

my all time favorite is penne with sauteed juiliened strips of spam cooked in a little evo. pour the spam and oil over noodles, dust with parmesan and GENEROUS amounts of black pepper. horribly inauthentic, but I LOVE spam. mike

I'd appreciate hearing more about your stage at Ducasse, and your experiences at other NYC restaurants if time permits. mike

mixmaster b we're thinking of heading out to the downstairs restaurant for a meal there. i think i like the upstairs tho. i mean, i like being able to choose what i eat. don't get your hopes up about eating at farallon. i mean, the food's nice, but it ain't gonna knock your socks off. don't get me wrong, it's still pretty good food in general. mike

i've always wondered if the iron chef can sample the dishes his opponent creates and vice versa. does anyone know? mike

I decided to quickly saute some pears and pine nuts in a little butter with a bit of chinese five spice (again, out of nutmeg), and brown sugar and used this as a little garniture to my leftover squash soup. i must say, it wasn't half bad. next time, i wouldn't add the vanilla extract as I could not taste it at all. the remaining soup was much more palatable than expected. thank you all for your ideas. mike

There is no way in hell i could eat a live mammal. Octopus, squid, clams, all that stuff is fair game. A mouse is where i draw the line. mike

Sounds good SA THe introduction of mirepoix, apples and the additional simmering should make a big difference in my future efforts. mike

Lizziee- okay, thanks for the clarification. mike

Lizziee, you use the word 'our' when talking about fl. are you associated with the restaurant in some way? mike

my mom once made a chicken pot pie with fresh lychee in it. it was vile. mike

Pumpkin soup please. mike