Suzanne F

Bringing this one back partly because of the Danny Meyer Q & A, and because I want to report on my recent experiences. We have started going to Jazz Standard, the club underneath Blue Smoke. (Heard Winard Harper in December, and Randy Weston with Regina Carter last night; next weekend, Joanne Brackeen ) While it is not necessary to order any food or drink, we have dinner since we go to the 7:30 shows. The food comes from Blue Smoke, naturally, although the menu is much shorter and includes some different items. We haven't checked whether the full wine list is available. In these 2 visits, we've had: chipotle-glazed bbq chicken wings (w/Maytag blue cheese dip); black-pepper-coated NY Strip steak (also w/blue cheese) with "home fries;" 1/2-rack of the St. Louis-cut ribs, with pickles and cole slaw; pulled-pork sandwich (also with pickles and cole slaw); collards; and cheddar cheese wafers. We enjoyed all of it -- but it all could have been better. Only the cheese wafers were sufficiently flavored; everything else was so timidly spiced. Meats were tender and juicy, but very mildly spiced or smoked. The "pulled pork" was chopped so fine as to be mushy. The steak was excellent meat, trimmed to make eating in the dark easy, and cooked exactly as requested -- but while the pepper was visible, its bite had gone missing. Cole slaw needed more vinegar to contrast the light sweetness and complement the vegetables. The home fries were perfectly (deep?) fried slices of (already baked?) potatoes -- but a sprinkle of salt would have been nice. The collards, cooked to an unusually high degree of softness, needed more bacon to be worthy of having that ingredient listed. The cheese wafers, btw, were great: the simple grated cheddar/butter/flour/cayenne kind, made with a really sharp cheese and just enough cayenne. They melted in the mouth upon being bitten. Perfect bar food! So, overall, we wish the kitchen would be bolder in spicing, seasoning, and flavoring. And I wish the potato salad were available downstairs. We'll definitely keep tasting, as long as Jazz Standard has such good acts at such a reasonable cover (generally $25 pp).

Please don't feel bad, Anna. It was indeed serendipitous that you found the book, too -- and a wonderful book it is! I wish more chefs would look at it.

:applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: Bravo, Kim! Hey, beet greens are GREENS! What's to be bad? You may now return to your normal life, whatever that is.

Kim, I admire you for being so willing to try. I really hope you like them. But if not, c'est la vie!

Can you flame apple peel? Maybe if you soak it in Everclear first?

Shortbreads are such great (and EASY!) cookies. Thanks. Question: my plain CI skillet is biggish -- 12 inches. I'm thinking I could use my 10-inch CI grill pan, and that way I'd have pre-marked the shortbread for cutting. Do you think that would work all right? Or would it bake unevenly?

As I, ahem, ahem, said in the very first response to ScottishChef's question, it "can be quite useful, and even inspiring." I did not mean to damn it with faint praise -- it is a terrific book, one that I look to frequently for suggestions when I'm tired of serving the same combinations over and over again. It reminds me that great chefs are different from you and me; they think on an entirely different plane. I'm grateful that Andrew and Karen talked to so many, and pulled their thoughts together so well.

Yes, indeed. Interesting and tasty, if a bit on the sweet side. Yvonne, would you prefer "eGulletarian" -- or does that sound a little too cultish?

When I first visited Blue Smoke shortly after it opened, the service was, well, not what I expected from one of your restaurants. How could such a situation happen? Do business considerations (i.e., the need to generate revenue) sometimes override the necessary training period? That is, given the long delays in opening, was staff training for once given short shrift? And in light of people's reactions, will that ever happen again?

Yes.

Yes, Master.

Anything with a famous name that the Riese Organization "resurrects" bears no relationship to the original. Look at Lindy's (if you dare). While I thank you for the information, John and BklynEats, I fear it will do nothing to improve the desperately bad food situation at Penn Station -- quite the opposite, in fact.

Eat your vegs? NOT. And the January 20, 2003 issue of The New Yorker (the same one with the Calvin Trillin article) has a "Talk of the Town" piece about the chef for the Calhoun School (and Derek Jeter as well). Talk here.

Yes, Polly, I do believe so!! Hi, Julie! Welcome to the friskier side. You'll love it here.

But what of the famous Nedick's orange drink???

That leads me to another question: how long does panko keep?

Have you had a look at Culinary Artistry by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page? It was published here in 1996 by Van Nostrand Reinhold. Probably available through Amazon UK? The authors spoke with many fine US chefs about flavors and foods that work well together (AD is himself a chef). The book can be quite useful, and even inspiring.

Now I'm really tempted to make some REAL baked beans -- although I'll wait for a slightly warmer day (when the heat won't come on and the apartment is freezing ). I also grew up eating the Heinz Vegetarian version -- the one with pork was forbidden fruit. I agree with Suvir and the others that canned "baked beans" are awful. Too mushy, too sweet, no bean flavor left. And WAY too much of that sticky sauce -- I usually have to drain most of it off, it I'm trying once again to use them. Yes, I doctor them (as I do just about every canned food I use), but why should I have to??

I've no objection to turning this one into an all-purpose panko thread. After all, it does have the word "panko" in the title already. So that will make it easy to find. What else do you do with them, besides breading the usual suspects for frying? I'd really like to know, since I don't make very much fried food, but love the flavor and crunch of panko. edit: as I was typing this, Jinmyo was started that other thread. I cede to her. Carry on there!

Interesting that our responses to "I hate X" tend to be "Try roasting it." Since roasting intensifies the inherent flavor, will that help someone who dislikes the flavor? Well, I guess it changes the flavor, too. Just wondering.

Thanks for the suggestion, Akiko. I always find those curry mixes a bit on the salty side, but I just might try it. BTW, it was the cat and the girl in bed that provoked the and

Another excellent article. Thanks, Dave (and FG). It awoke vague memories of levo- vs dextro- molecular construction. Isn't that the difference between sucrose (levo) and dextrose (dextro, duh)? So it would be interesting to do yet another experiment on cane/beet sugar vs corn sweeteners. (Don't look at me, though! I barely passed chemistry.)

Celery is useful. That's the best I can say about it. I always have some in my veg bin. It adds crunch (but so can other, more interesting foods); it adds some flavor (so can celeriac, better); it adds bulk (shame on me for using it as filler ). It can, with tweaking, be made into something good. But why should a vegetable need that? I'd miss it if it were unavailable, but not that much.

Methinks Jinmyo must be a martinet in the kitchen... But what about our recent guests, Diane Forley and Michael Otsuka? They seem to get along -- although granted, they are not in the kitchen together all the time.