Suzanne F

It's Placido Domingo's (opera star/conductor) third attempt at a restaurant in the same location. It received two stars in its New York Times review in July. What else would you like to know?

Just remember what Ste. Julia says: If you don't want to use so much butter, well then use heavy cream.

Hey, at least it's totally natural and organic! Welcome , miiki!

That depends. It looks like a very doable, very delicious recipe (hey, chicken livers, cognac, and butter -- what's to be bad?). But why this one? Or, to put it another way, what do you want to learn from this exercise?

Three years in Detroit.

How does frozen taro compare to fresh for grating or turning into shoestrings? Is it faster/easier to cook when one wants to mash it? Are there preparations for which frozen is better than fresh? I'm just wondering, because I'm very close to Chinatown and it's easy for me to get it fresh.

Possibly at the top end of your price range: Restaurant Nora, or Asia Nora. Nora Pouillon has the only certified organic restaurant in the country (or at least it used to be), right down to the wines and the waiters' uniforms. And it's just about the only place I would ever order salmon, mmmmmmmmmmm. Asia Nora is not organic, but very, very good. Oh, and Nora is the "Famous Chef" for the current month on the wall calendar.

Please bring them to the pig event on the 21st. We can all have fun jumping on them and getting them to squirt in all directions.

And another 13 on order from Jessica's Biscuit.

Oh, poor Rover. How sad for you. Not feeling up to cooking, I mean. Treat yourself to some nice meals out. Try some places that were too expensive for 2 people. Focus on the menu, the ambience -- have some new dishes you've never tried.

Shiewie, I was planning on using the crock pot -- I've got a nice 6-quart one. How long to cook, though, and on what setting? I woke up in the middle of the night last night and made a list of all the items I thought I should offer -- by golly, almost a perfect match with yours! (Not bad for a middle-aged Jewish lady who grew up in Flushing long before the Asians came! ) I'd love to offer preserved egg, but that's maybe a bit too "exotic" for this bunch.

Essex Seafood. Their fried clams beat everyone else's. At least, they did last summer.

He Who Only Eats was in SF a few weeks ago. Tried to go to Zuni (only other time we ate there was shortly after it opened) but it's closed on Mondays. As was Absinthe. But he did eventually eat at Absinthe, and came home raving about his meal there. The Duck Confit was everything it should be, he said Also praised the Cucumber Soup and the Peach Tart with Blueberry Creme Fraiche Sorbet. I think this meal was AFTER he had indulged in a Vanilla Bean Ice Cream Sandwich on Ginger Molasses Cookies AND a serving of Santa Rosa Plum Sorbet at Citizen Cake! (He's a good eater! ) He also had a great burger and beer at 21st Amendment, and a very good Grilled Octopus app at Scala's Bistro.

What puts me off even more is seeing a kitchen staff member come out of the sink-less restroom and go directly back to work without using the outside-the-restrooms sink. I will no longer eat at the Miracle Grill on First Avenue (NYC) because of that and other poor but less dangerous behavior.

I have all kinds of crap in my kitchen, and I am proud of the fact that when I use it, no one can discern what crap went into their fabulous meal. So there! Purity à la Jinmyo is a wonderful thing, something to which we should all aspire. I wish I could actually reach it.

Well, get thee a copy of McGee, girl! Also of Shirley Corriher's Cookwise, and Harold Hillman's Kitchen Science, and Robert Wolke's What Einstein Told His Cook, and The Inquisitive Cook from the Exploratorium in San Francisco. Even if they don't answer all the questions you'll come up against, they are great reading!

NeroW, that makes sense: that's where the warm moist air is. (See, I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt that you shower daily. ) Bruce, you any relation to the Rabbi here in NYC, and Fay?

Add 3 more for me. Damn that Strand!!!

I'm considering making congee for a group of friends next week. This thread has been a huge help in figuring out what additions to offer. But since I've never made it before -- only eaten it in restaurants -- I have a few questions: 1. If I have sliced fish, it would go in raw, yes? Are there any varieties of fish that are better to use than others? 2. Similar question wrt chicken: goes in raw, assuming shreds or small dice? Or should I pre-cook it? 3. Shredded lettuce: romaine? iceberg? The only other consideration is that I have to keep the additions kosher. So no pork, no shellfish, no clams. Any other suggestions would be very much appreciated.

Yeah, one place I worked had a GM who was a lactose-intolerant vegetarian. Now THAT's tough. I worked grill at the time, and often made her a grilled chicken sandwich, hold the chicken and no butter on the roll. Just tomato, lettuce, avocado, chipotle mayo, radish sprouts.

Can someone please explain the thrill of eating at a table in the kitchen? I mean REALLY in the kitchen? Even if room can be made, and the table is not in a glassed-in, hermetically sealed area, what is the point? Okay, at The Inn at Little Washington, the kitchen is beautiful, and huge, and the table has a great view but no contact. Anywhere else -- ?????? I mean, a dining room is designed with the customers' comfort in mind, in terms of temperature, noise level, lighting, etc. A kitchen is the factory floor. Why????? (from one who spent several years on that factory floor)

I wouldn't try that recipe with duck. Roast duck never works, for me.

Oh, tommy. It won't. Although the idea is to aid the heat transfer. But it won't. Counter-intuitive. You go, nature boy. But truly, is there anything better in the poultry world than a properly roasted chicken??????????

HWOE and I have this debate periodically, such as when we hit a deli like Katz's or Second Avenue. And right now, while we still have most of the gallon jar of Schorr's "New Half Sours" that FG left after the potluck here. Now, to me, that is an oxymoron: NEW pickles are just that: still bright green, very crisp, and not very pickled yet. HALF SOURS are already on their way, pretty well-pickled but not totally sour, still with bite but already somewhat soft. In any case, these are pretty damn good, with knock (pronounced "k-nok") and decent flavor even if they need more garlic. MASS MARKET "KOSHER DILL"

The first time I hosted Pesach (more of a family get-together for us than Rosh Hashanah), I planned on serving steamed/sauteed duck, very similar to Mark Bittman's version. Alas, of the ducks I bought, only one of three was usable. So I made Fesanjon, a Persian duck-and-meatball stew. No one minded a bit. Of course, they knew that by then I was a professional cook. But I think Separdic recipes in general work better for Rosh Hashanah, because people still get the willies when you serve them rice on Pesach. I know I did, when I went to a Seder hosted by an Israeli family in in Los Angeles in 1990. Have a look at Joyce Goldstein's Cucina Ebraica for some fabulous dishes! One slight correction: the way I first saw that chicken recipe, you had to position it with its rear to the back of the oven -- more force for flying out! I wonder if anyone has actually tried it??