Suzanne F

I will not read the NY Times restaurant review before the date on which it is (nominally) published. But damn, I've been tempted!

Is there any way we can do a compare-and-contrast with Custard Beach? Although that might not be fair, because it seems to me that CB is now basically an ice cream stand, not frozen custard (it's been a while) since I had it, though.

Duck proscuitto, taleggio, and hen of the woods mushrooms at CraftBar. This is such stuff as dreams are made on.

They were on the menu when we ate at Prune over a year ago. I thought they were terrific -- and a very big portion. But Stone, I don't know how you'd fit in -- literally -- at Prune; it might be kind of cramped for a big guy like you.

I once did vitello tonnato -- but that was for a very, very special picnic (it didn't work its magic, though. ) I'm more likely to do chicken, marinated first with lemon and garlic and oregano, then baked in the marinade. That and lots of good bread to act as napkins, and I'm very happy. (It takes longer than 20 minutes, and required some advance planning, but it's really very little hands-on work time.) Also that perennial eG favorite: Asian-style salad, made with whatever meat or poultry I have left over in the fridge, lots of julienned vegs, and a chili-fish sauce-rice vinegar-sesame oil dressing.

You mean: The Goose Cooked Fast And Our Quick Tabouli Completed Dinner. Talc Gypsum Calcite Fluorite Apatite Orthoclase Quartz Topaz Corundum Diamond or, as I learned it in 9th grade Earth Science: The Goose Can Fly And Other Queer Things Can Do Although, after Bleu's, why bother?

Rachel -- re: the roasted red peppers -- I would use them in a recipe that called for roasted red peppers because that's what they are. But first I would rinse them well and pat them dry. And after I had used up the jar, I would buy a bunch of red peppers (when they are cheap, because I am cheap) and roast and skin them and put them away in the fridge in jars with oil or vinegar/oil. Or roast them, pack them in jars, and process them to keep them outside the fridge. As for the capers: Roland is a reliable company, at least in that the big capers in brine and the small capers in brine will both taste like . . . capers in brine. Chop the large ones a lot, chop the small ones a little, and you'll get the desired effect. The four years I spent in Beloit were years of learning -- not just to get a degree, but about cooking and eating. Anyone can make great food with great raw materials, as long as they don't screw things up. The better learning experience is making very good food out of less-than-perfect ingredients and being able to figure out what could be better, and why.

Hey, what SHOULD a person be obsessed with? Sex -- naw, you could get a horrible disease, or go blind. History -- naw, too depressing. Mathematics -- naw, you lose sight of everything except the minutest of patterns. Psychology, sociology, anthropology -- HELL NO! Fine Arts -- naw, you'll starve to death. Performing Arts -- naw, ditto, plus you'll be severely embarrassed every time you lose out on an audition. Government -- naw, for more reasons than I care to mention. Business -- naw, too jumpy and ulcer-inducing. Family -- ARE YOU CRAZY???? So what's left as a safe, positive, self-affirming, nurturing, etc. etc. thing to be obsessed with? FOOD!!! Yay!!!!!

Not really part of my background, either. When I'm sick, it's all I can do to get HWOE to order me the CURRIED Chicken Udon! But early in our relationship, he came down with mono. We were supposed to have gone out to dinner together, so I went over to his apartment and made him some beef stew. Does that count?

Sorry, Ms. Purvis, I meant no slur. I've never even tried to get an egg cream anywhere outside of NYC -- in fact, I no longer try them outside my own house and the only other places I've had lox are in Beloit, WI (imported from Chicago) and in South Florida -- the parts of which do count as The South. But what about foods that are already hybrids of different traditions -- the Italian/Cajun food in New Orleans comes to mind immediately (Mosca's "Barbecued" Shrimp). Or even the adaptations made to barbecue by settlers from different home countries, such as mutton in KY or sausage in TX? What I'm saying is: are there any PURE iconic foods at all? Not a great analogy, because we here don't expect barbecue to be as ubiquitous as, say, pizza (or chocolate chip cookies, if you will). We just want to be able to find good examples of it, period. At least, that's my opinion.

Oh. My. God. Steve and Chefette, you guys are real artists! (As if there were ever any doubt? ) Fat Guy: Potty Barn carries some sort of garland that can hold votive candles -- meant to go around a door jamb. Don't know if they have it in the stores, but might that work for your cupcakes??

Also, although I have not cooked from it but it's a wonderful read: Colette Rosant's Memories of a Lost Egypt, recently released in paperback under a different title -- something with Apricots in the name. And not sure if this qualifies as Middle Eastern, but Najmieh Batmanglij's New Food for Life, a collection of Persian recipes, has some real winners. That's where I found a great recipe using the cardoons I bought, well, just because I saw them in the store. OH yeah: also Tess Mallos's The Complete Middle East Cookbook. She also has a Complete Mediterranean Cookbook -- both have lots of good information.

We had an excellent meal at Tai Hong Lau, which has a liquor license. And while I did not make it to the eG dinner at Congee Village (long, long ago), the reports were of terrific food, not just congee. Not sure if they have a license, but - Dim Sum GoGo is very, very good -- especially the roast chicken with garlic. - Oriental Garden (on Elizabeth) is great -- some of us had a fabulous meal there a few weeks ago. Mostly swimming-fresh seafood. Be aware that many places in Ctown do not take credit cards. Also be aware that at a place like NY Noodletown, as mentioned below by PoorLawyer, the prices are so low that it will barely make a dent in your wallet (beer there is $3, but many of the noodle soups and rice dishes are under $4) It is possible to spend less than $10 for 2 people and come away stuffed. (edited after returning to thread)

Cool. Let's see about merging threads, or closing the other and keeping yours going.

Oh dear, you really think we want to be the barbecue capital? Maybe some do, but I think it's more about playing with a shiny new toy -- here's this delicious food that we haven't been able to eat close to home for so long, so we want more and more and more. If there's only one good thing about globalization -- and there very well may be only one good thing about it -- it's that good food can travel, too. Besides, the state of most bagels here is ATROCIOUS! They are no longer the dense, chewy ones of my youth but big, puffy, inflated rolls. Feh.

Haven't had it in a while, but we used to love the risotto at Cola, in Chelsea. Also at Artisanal (related, of course, to Picholine).

This is deeply OT, but: Robyn, may you never, ever, ever have to "ride out" a disaster of the enormity of either event, anywhere.

When we still went to Knicks games, most times I'd bring dinner. Only once did the security guy say something to the effect of "You're not supposed to bring in food," to which I replied, "Want some?" He grunted and let me in with it. (Good thing: we got sick on the "pizza" at the garden once.) My guess is that the security staff has far worse stuff to worry about, especially at the Stadium.

So that's the derivation! Thanks, Jaymes.

Personally, I would not put raw onions into my hamburgers because they won't really cook by the time the burgers are done. However, if you wish to persist in that foolishness grate them, so they are in the tiniest possible pieces and have a prayer of cooking. But caramelized onions on top, now that's another story. Use the Google feature here to find the thread on caramelized onions. Sooooooooooooooo wonderful!

You're right. I don't. The last time I was in New York was on 9/11. A "pleasure" trip - my 30th anniversary. It was a very unpleasant experience for a variety of reasons I won't repeat here (although I can't fault the staff in the hotel where I was staying - they were champs). I had been through disasters before - like Hurricane Andrew - where over 100,000 houses were rendered uninhabitable (including mine for a while). So it wasn't the tangibles - it was the intangibles. All things considered - I'd prefer riding out a disaster in Miami than in New York. And when I go to big cities these days - I find myself gravitating to places like London. As for the event in New York - this caught my eye: 3:00-3:45 p.m. All-Star Barbecue Sauce Tasting An informative and entertaining tasting of the award-winning sauces featured at this year's Big Apple Barbecue Block Party, from three of our country's leading authorities on taste. Colman Andrews, moderator, editor-in-chief, SAVEUR Jeffrey Steingarten, author, The Man Who Ate Everything Calvin Trillin, author, Feeding a Yen Whatever I think of these people - I find it hard to believe that a city of millions couldn't come up with someone slightly more authentic to render opinons about BBQ sauce. When I think of BBQ experts - Steingarten and Trillin don't exactly come to mind (I'm not familiar with Andrews). But I guess they cover H to Y (Harvard to Yale) - and that passes for expertise in all manner of things in New York . Robyn In spite of the time spent by Jack Hitt describing the politicization of mustard-based sauce in South Carolina, the panelists seemed to agree that sauce is not what barbecue is about. Not at all. And if you had read William McKinney's post on Do NYers get bbq?, you would figure out that a sauce tasting is just a sideshow, not connected with the essence of barbecue. As for the participants: Calvin Trillin is a native of Kansas City -- not exactly terra incognita for barbecue; and one of Jeffrey Steingarten's favorite cities for eating, according to his bio in The Man Who Ate Everything is Memphis (presumably, not the one in Egypt). As for Colman Andrews, as far as I can tell, he may originally be from California, and currently living in Connecticut, but he WAS one of the editors behind Saveur Cooks Authentic American, so I assume he has his taste in his mouth. The first two happen to be among the wittiest people writing about food these days (or not writing about food, in the case of Trillin ), and all three could be described as fairly obsessive about food. And all three are big draws for panel discussions. So why not them?

In spite of this thread having engendered some bad feelings I had to bring it back because I recently found under my door a menu offering Available Lunch Sushi . . . . . . . . . . Seasoning Price A quick perusal turns up no other typos, so does this mean the sushi is free, but the soy sauce costs?

Speaking only as one barbecue-starved NYer, there's so much to learn! The first time I had barbecue, in Kansas City (late 1990s), it was not too far from what I'd heard about -- smoke-cooked meat and sauce -- so it wasn't totally foreign. The second time, in Wilson, NC in 2001 (not sure if it was at Mitchells), in my ignorance, I thought, "Is this IT??" So much to learn, so much to learn. Maybe we should come down there and teach you about egg creams and lox? Would that be a fair swap?

that's not the beginning of an ethnic joke then Oh my goodness, no! Hutspot => hot pot, hochepot = a meat-and-vegetable stew. met = "with" Klapstuck, iirc, is something like bubble and squeak. Pierke: you can get rhubarb year-round?? How lucky you are!

For a book in English (needless to say, I do not read Korean), try Dok Suni: Recipes from My Mother's Korean Kitchen by Jenny Kwak. Dok Suni is a restaurant here in NYC, which, I've been told by Koreans, is quite authentic. At any rate, I like it.