Jaymes

I think that the thing to do is to give the customers at the table the benefit of the doubt, at least initially, and assume they are well-mannered enough to pretty quickly pause and look politely in your direction, until they prove themselves to be boorishly otherwise. Even if the majority of them are so wrapped up in themselves that they don't notice you in a timely manner, surely at least one of them will. If nobody does, and you've stood there for several seconds, and you see no hope, then speak up, by greeting them in a pleasant manner. And not by loudly reading off today's specials in an irritated and impatient voice. Everybody understands that when you're approaching a table engaged in lively conversation, you make a choice. You decide whether to behave in a considerate manner as you would if those people actually were your "guests"; or to aggressively stride right up and start talking as loudly as possible in order to shut them all up, even before your second foot is firmly planted tableside.

Yes I can, actually. Question though: what if you're serving a table where the people are ALWAYS talking and there's never a good moment to ask a question, and you don't want to hover around awkwardly? Actually, when I'm dining out, I have the reverse pet peeve - when the server is standing there obviously ready to take our order and the people at the table - the more, the worse - just keep blabbing on about silly sh*t to each other and don't even acknowledge that she's standing there politely waiting. It's like, this woman has other stuff to do rather than watch our silly antics. Similarly, when people make the server stand there while they peruse the drink or food entire menu when they don't know what they want, instead of just asking for a few minutes. Or any iteration on the "wasting the server's time" theme. Not because I have worked FOH and think I'm all-important, but because I empathize with how busy servers can be and find that some people just have no awareness of the fact that the server does have heaps more to do than simply attend to their own table. I know the job of a server is -duh - to provide pleasant and efficient service, and to help create a good dining experience for patrons, but it's also nice if patrons realize that by monopolizing their server's time, they are detracting from their fellow patron's dining experiences. Yep, and if you reread my post, I mentioned 60 seconds. 60 seconds. At most. And probably more like 15-30 seconds. I'm sorry, but I don't think making at least a small effort to behave with good manners on the part of BOTH people in this interaction - customer AND server is asking too damn much. ETA: I'm going to add a little bit more to this. All three of my children at various times in their lives earned a living by waiting tables. One son started waiting tables in high school, and then all through college, where he earned a degree in Hotel & Rest Mgt, and he still works in the restaurant/hospitality industry, for a total of 20 years experience. When I was young, I, too, waited tables, which is basically retail sales in the service industry, and then went into other types of sales, eventually owning my own small retail business. I've been dealing with the public for 40 years. Nobody has to tell me how frustrating and annoying and thoughtless and selfish and rude and arrogant customers can be. So I'm basically on the side of the servers. BUT... If you come walking up to my table shouting, giving us no respect whatsoever, making it very clear that you consider yourself and your duties and your time and your priorities and your other tables to be far, far more important than us, you've pissed me off. And I'll treat you just like I would treat anyone else that came up to our table shouting and interrupting. Oh, I won't let you know right away. You've already basically announced to us that you're self-important, arrogant and rude and that pleasing us is way down on your list of priorities. I sure don't want to get into an argument with any person like that anywhere, but certainly not in a restaurant with our server. So go ahead and interrupt me and holler at me and then you can get back to your other more-important duties. But you'll feel it in your tip. And that's a promise. .

Speaking of being friendly, don't overdo it. For example, do not crouch down next to me and put your hand on my arm and try to chat me up as though I'm your dearest buddy that has just stopped in and you want to let me know privately that you're comping my meal. Unless all of that is true. And, if you interrupt me while I'm talking, your tip just went down 1%. I know you're busy and you have several tables to take care of and think your time is more important than me and my stupid story, but can't you wait 60 seconds unobtrusively instead of talking over me so loudly that you demand the attention of the entire table? Try to use the sort of good manners that you'd use anywhere.

Well, since they advertise the LCK on Top Chef, and they show who is going to be competing, I guess it's not a spoiler to tell you. It's Kristen.

Yes. I have a kaffir lime (or "wild Thai lime," I guess we're supposed to say) tree. My son cooks Thai food often and uses the leaves. From time to time, I take him bundles, which he freezes, to no ill effect.

I got quite a kick out of Curtis Stone's comment, regarding the iceberg lettuce challenge, "Let's hope the only iceberg we see on this trip is the one on our plate." Curtis, dear boy, do you not know where you're going? Because I can guarantee you that you're going to see more icebergs than any human can possibly count.

Yes on the topping for deviled eggs - a classic. My number-one tip for people that are just trying to start using caviar is to rinse it a bit at first. Don't do that with good caviar, of course, but try it with the cheap stuff until you become accustomed to the taste. After you develop a fondness for it, that strong, salty flavor that gets largely washed away with rinsing will become your favorite part. You're not supposed to let metal touch the caviar (hence the popularity for mother-of-pearl spoons to serve it with), so if you try the rinsing thing, be sure to use paper towels, or some other non-mental device, to strain it.

Wow, did anyone see the results of the latest "viewer favorite chef" poll? CJ with 94%; Josie with 6%? And that 6% is probably her family. Likeable, she's definitely not.

I like Gayle, too. But who knows... Maybe they offered her the gig but she's too busy to do this on a permanent basis. It's impossible to say what all went into the final decision. Maybe Padma was the only one to say yes.

I certainly agree with you about all the cursing. I remember back when a well-spoken person used a plethora of adjectives, and not just the one. And nothing you've said about Wolfgang Puck being raised in Austria (which is pretty close to Germany, is it not?) changes my opinion that if he says his mother made fried chicken, it's quite likely that she did. I didn't say that his daddy was a soldier; I said that perhaps his mother dated one, as one possibility on a long list. As for her making fried chicken for him, I still see absolutely no reason on earth why not and think it's unfair to just decide he's likely lying. And although you're sure right about models, I believe she's there for more reasons than just her previous modeling gigs. As I said, if that was all they wanted, they could have gotten some nymph from the latest Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue.

So many thoughts about this thread... For starters, I see nothing suspicious about Wolfgang saying his mother made fried chicken. Everywhere on the planet there are cooks that stick with what they know, what is common, traditional to their region and background. And there are cooks that are adventuresome, that actively seek out recipes from other regions of the world. My father, who came from a traditional southern background (his mother even owned a southern "home cooking" restaurant) traveled the world and was one of the most adventuresome, inquisitive, curious cooks I've ever met. When in foreign lands, he intentionally sought out the most interesting and unusual dishes, recipes, ingredients, methods in that cuisine and then came home and experimented on us. I'm not sure it's fair to say that if Wolfgang was raised in Germany, his mother probably never made fried chicken. Not to mention that one of the places that my father traveled often, and where we (dad, mom, us three kids) lived for four years with the post-war occupational forces was Germany. We lived in a big old house that had been one of Hitler's general's homes and we had several servants, one of whom was our cook, Maria, who often made southern fried chicken for us. Who knows, after we left, maybe she married and had a little boy that she named Wolfgang. In addition, for the last 60-plus years there have been many American soldiers in Germany. Maybe Wolfgang's mother dated a nice southern boy from Georgia and that's how she learned to make fried chicken. Or, very likely in my view, since she raised a world-class chef, she was interested in the foods of the world and, like most of us here on eG, she read a lot of "foreign" cookbooks. This is a very small planet now and our populations are fluid and people and their customs, including their food, in their native land are no longer confined to their borders. I don't understand the view that "although I'm American, born and bred, I take pleasure in going to ethnic markets and finding exotic - to me - ingredients and coming home and making larb or African peanut stew, but I'm pretty sure nobody in Germany would do that." Second - surprised about the several negative, snarky comments about Padma's age. Really? Nothing about the age of any of the men? She's gotten too "long in the tooth"? Somehow I doubt you'd turn her down. She's hardly the Betty White of the food world. And, if you read her bio, you can see that she's been interested in food all along. Some folks might point out that as she ages, she continues to gain experience in gastronomy, so that should improve her levels of knowledge and expertise and make her more qualified for this gig, instead of less. It's not like they went out and got some 19-year-old bit of fluffy eye candy from the latest Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. I think she's a credible and experienced host and does just fine at the job. Last - several comments (and I can't remember if they were here or on the show or both) about how a chef would never remove the bone and then fry the chicken. Perhaps those folks have never heard of that very southern dish: Chicken-Fried Chicken. My personal favorite. http://www.food.com/...ilk-gravy-22227 And (I'll admit, it gives me some pleasure to point out), unless I'm very much mistaken, that very traditional US southern dish, Chicken-Fried Chicken, seems to have a great deal in common with Wiener Schnitzel. I'm pretty sure that if a cook could turn out a terrific version of one, they'd have a pretty easy time of learning to make the other. .

Really really true. We all sat there watching and knew when Josie said she hadn't gotten around to making the stock, even though she had been told to and it was clearly the right thing to do, that trouble was on the horizon. It's not like Josie's time management and procrastination and over-confidence issues were a big surprise to Kristen. She should have decided what she was going to do about it as soon as she knew Josie was on her team.

Yes. Although I've never gotten into frying chicken (try not to eat or cook a lot of fried foods and excellent chicken is available at many restaurants), I can still hear my grandmother saying that if you're going to bake a chicken, get a fat one. But if you're going to fry it, get a skinny one so it will cook through more evenly and help keep the oil hot. As far as Padma's "food creds" go, while she might not be the Indian Julia Child, Top Chef isn't her first foray into gastronomy, either. From Wiki: "Her first cookbook Easy Exotic, a compilation of international recipes, was awarded Best First Book at the 1999 Gourmand World Cookbook Awards at Versailles. She was host of the Food Network series Padma's Passport, which was part of the larger series Melting Pot in 2001, where Lakshmi cooked primarily vegetarian cuisines. She also hosted two one-hour specials on South India and Spain for the British culinary tourism show Planet Food broadcast on the Food Network in the U.S. and internationally on the Discovery Channels. Her second cookbook, Tangy, Tart, Hot and Sweet, was released October 2, 2007." I like her fine. And although, as a woman, I don't care if she's "hot" or not, I do find her fascinating to watch.

My favorite part is when the chef-judges speculate as to whether or not the chef-testant that cooked any particular item is a professional or a home cook. Wish they'd do that more often.

I'm not sure how much of that is genuine repentance and how much is feigned repentance to soften the blow. But, I've noticed on other of these sorts of "select a team" competition shows that if, at the end of the first round, not every mentor has a complete team, they'll ask a few of the top contenders back for a second round. I think part of the "repentance" might be gamesmanship in case that happens. If you had thoroughly dissed someone, but you only have three cooks/chefs on your team, and you're battling another mentor for a top prospect, he or she might be considerably less likely to choose you if you had been really rude and dismissive. Whereas pretend kicking-yourself would put you in a much better position to attract them to your team on the second go.

Here's the bottom line, for me anyway. I want Kristen to win. In order to do that, she has to beat all the other chefs. She still has to do that so nothing really has changed. Just that now she has to come up through the loser's bracket. I hope the next person to show up at Last Chance Kitchen is Josie. And she goes against Kristen, mujer a mujer. And gets that stupid smile wiped off of her face.

To me, successful and enjoyable cooking for one is a puzzle. To solve it requires using a wide range of puzzle pieces - tools, methods, ingredients, possibilities. I think it's extremely counterproductive to flatly refuse to use any one of these puzzle pieces. I'm just happy I have access to them all - freezer, microwave, pantry, stovetop, oven, toaster oven, excellent grocery stores, etc. The list goes on. And I happily and gratefully take full advantage of each.

I, too, occasionally like "a small steak." A filet mignon is the right size, but I very much prefer the flavor of a nice, thick ribeye. So I buy nice, thick ribeyes. And cut them in half and freeze them. Perfect for one.

Is anyone aware of a location in the US where I might buy it?

Just have to put in a plug for my latest personal hot sauce obsession. Felicidad Chipotle Salsa from Rancho Gordo. Here's a link to a review on "Hot Sauce Blog": http://www.hotsauceblog.com/hotsaucearchives/hot-sauce/rancho-gordo-felicidad-chipotle-salsa-hot-sauce/ I love this stuff. It's hot, but not so hot that people that can't handle spicy food can't enjoy it. Because it's a chipotle sauce, it's particularly valuable to me because I make a great many dishes that call for chipotle and, pre-Felicidad, I'd throw a can of chipotle into the blender, wind up with about a half-cup of chipotle, use 1 or 2 tablespoons, then put the rest into a little plastic bag and then into the freezer to use another time. Of course, I'd forget it was there and, next time I needed chipotle, I'd repeat the same procedure. The result was lots of little baggies of chipotle in the freezer that I never got around to using. But now, a few shakes of Felicidad, and I, too, am felicidad! It's available on several gourmet food websites, but here's a link where you can order it directly from Rancho Gordo: http://www.ranchogordo.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=RG&Product_Code=4HSF&Category_Code=#.UPLsgazJLLE

If you don't want to start them from seeds, the plants, already bearing fruit, are available in Asian nurseries, or at least have been in many locales where I've lived. As far as the juice goes, it's been my experience that when the fruit is large and orange, it's fairly bursting with juice. A little tedious perhaps, but not that bad, and totally worth it. But many Filipinos prefer it when it's green. An interesting (to me, anyway) story: As I said, I lived in the Philippines for several years and upon returning to the US, always had calamansi plants growing. At one house, I had one on each side of our driveway and, raising two sons, a basketball net hanging up over the garage door. My sons would shoot baskets and eat calamansi for hours, so they have fond memories of the fruit. Fast forward to today, and one son is a manager for a large hospitality computer company. One of his "help desk" teams is in the Philippines, so he goes there often and, occasionally, they come here for training. A few months back, he had invited the team over to his house for dinner and one of them was complaining that she was coming down with a very bad cold, but couldn't find any calamansi juice anywhere: "I've been to several drug stores and not only do they not sell it, they've never even heard of it. I've tried to find the fresh fruit in the grocery stores, but they've never heard of it either. I don't think anybody here has even heard of it. I don't know what I'm going to do!" How fun when, to their complete astonishment, my son said, "Well, I've heard of it. In fact, I've got a calamansi bush in the back yard and it's loaded with fruit. Help yourself!

I have always had a calamansi bush or two, ever since I left the Philippines, and that includes three years living in Alaska. It's been my experience that they are easy to grow, even as a houseplant. So I drag them outside in the summers, and then back in when the weather turns cold. Here in Houston, I have three. They are small and full of seeds but, when they're orange and ripe, extremely juicy. The obvious uses are for typically tropical things like squeezing over one's slice of papaya, but you can use them for anything that you would normally use either a lemon or lime. In the Philippines, they are also considered to be the very best thing to ward off a cold or flu. I like them so much in my gin & tonics that I routinely put a few in my purse before we head out to a bar for cocktails. I just sent a boxful to Katie Loeb to thank her for a favor that she did for me. She turned them into a cordial, and wrote about it somewhere here on eGullet.

Well, silly me. Just now realized that I linked to LAST YEAR'S Wall Street Journal's recommendation for Rancho Gordo. This year, it was "Ancient Salt Sampler from Rancho Gordo." Quote: Ancient Salt Sampler | Steve Sando of Napa, Calif.-based Rancho Gordo traverses Mexico to find the rare and wonderful products he sells. His latest obsession: salt. There's his Flor de Sal, a delicate finishing salt harvested in the Yucatán. His chunky Sal de Mar can be ground or simply plunked, rock by rock, into a pot. Perhaps the most magical is the Mixteca, from ancient mines in Puebla: Naturally high in bicarbonates, it softens beans and preserves vegetables' color as they cook. $26, ranchogordo.com (F. Martin Ramin for The Wall Street Journal) http://graphicsweb.wsj.com/documents/image_grid/?slug=ODgg1201#filter=.Gourmand

This seems like a bit of selective malicious editing to create drama. John made a comment during one of his talking heads that he knew frozen tuna could be of acceptable quality and that his main gripe was that bluefin tuna can not be sustainable sourced. I certainly understand that these reality show participants can be the victims of "selective malicious editing" but, on the other hand, the producers/editors don't put words into their mouths. I thought it spoke volumes when, on Last Chance Kitchen, his opponent, upon hearing it was John, said (as I said above): "There's gotta be a catch, especially with John there. I'm sure he might have said something stupid that's gonna bite him and me in the ass." That's not "selective editing." That's coming from someone that has had the pleasure of working with him all these weeks.

Fantastic list of dishes! It grabbed me with both familiarity (ingredients and cuisines I enjoy and am comfortable with) and inspiration (new ideas and combinations). Thanks! I really agree. A truly inspirational list. Thanks so much for taking the time to post it! And, I was reminded last night that the issues involved with cooking for one extend to the desserts as well. Sure, you can dish up a few scoops of ice cream, or go for a piece of cheese and some fruit, but if you'd like something a little more substantial, all of those other problems we've talked about arise. One thing that's worked for me is to make a pound cake (or buy a Sara Lee frozen one), and keep that in the freezer. It's so easy to cut off a slice (even when frozen), either toast it a bit to get it crunchy on the outside, or just let it thaw (only takes a couple of minutes), add some fruit, and then top with whatever sounds good: a scoop of ice cream, a few spoonfuls of heavy cream, some "whipped topping" (like Redi-whip real cream), chocolate syrup, jelly or jam or preserves, Nutella, or my personal favorite, cajeta.