BryanZ

Nothing wrong with cooking sous vide in a stockpot. It's just water after all. You just have to watch your temp and for chicken you've got a pretty wide band to play with. Serving pink chicken to a panel of European-centric judges was not a wise move. In other cuisines, however, this is totally acceptable. That said, Sara should've gone long ago. Good episode through and through.

Perry's sandwiches are kind of bland. Its gimmick is the size but the meat and construction of the sandwich isn't top-notch. Quantity over quality.

When it comes to Wagyu, properly is a relative term. To be honest, even $92 seems low for a real Wagyu steak of decent quality unless it was like 4 ounces. I think a restaurant can cook a Wagyu steak properly-correctly seasoned and to temp.--but still not serve Wagyu "properly". As others have mentioned on other threads (and perhaps this one too, I forget) the idea behind Wagyu is generally not to eat it in steak form. I'm generally of your opinion when it comes to steakhouses. One the rare occasion, however, they can be good or at least an anti-fine dining night out. I personally would never go to a steakhouse for a date, however. I'm right with you on the music, though.

Mitsuwa's shioramen is totally different than Setagaya's. I suppose when I think of shioramen I think of something like what's served at Mitsuwa. To me they're almost too different to be directly comparable, despite the fact that they're technically of the same style.

On a somewhat related note, I actually like the blog. I recognize it's all a promotional effort, but it comes off as quite humanizing and well-written. I also was unfamiliar with the particularly brand of steam oven that he seems to be in love with.

You just want the liquid to taste good, no lengthy reducing required. I don't think you need to use gelatin filtration for a parm broth. I'm quite sure just filtering through a coffee liner would be fine. Again, it's a matter of getting the broth to taste right. Personally, I've never been happy with the parm waters I've ever been able to make. Xanthan is not required for the gelatin filtration process in itself. It simply adds an unctuous mouthfeel. Your going to want to follow the normal technique for incorporating xanthan into anything, paying special attention to the fact that you're not going to want to overly agitate your consomme to prevent clouding. So sprinkle, don't dump.

You can do it with dairy.

For the sake of completeness, a look at the new JG dining room courtesy of Eater can be seen here. I think it looks nice but definitely not as warm as the original. The previous room was lots of creams, tans, and light browns with some greenery thrown in for effect. This is more sleek, rounder, with a more modern, cooler color palate. I like the light fixture, though.

Thank you, UE.

Bags are fine. Ideally you can pull a stronger vacuum than what a FoodSaver can achieve but I've had decent results with compressed strawberries and watermelon.

This was an awesome battle.

Telling the doorman you're an eG member will not only confuse him but make you appear rather, umm, lame. Just show up at opening, or I think they take resos for later in the evening.

The goal here is not to filter a puree but rather a broth, hence the straining of the puree. It would call it less of a "puree" than a thick broth. You're trying to remove as much of the solid as possible before the syneresis. As an aside, I've used up to 2% powdered gelatin with decent results. The yield is lower, however. Logical mind or anyone who has more experience with this technique can set me straight, however.

No underwear. ETA: I'm a wealth of information.

This is all very, very exciting. It's been a rather long time coming and, of course, these are but a few very early reports, but I hope Sam totally rocks it. Mainly, however, I'm so sad I'm not home right now.

I understand that the official press opening is Monday. Hopefully all issues will be resolved by then.

A quick Google seems to reveal that this "place" is just the bar at Restaurant Guy Savoy, such that you can order small plates and drinks in the lounge. I could be wrong, however. I love how Zagat provides no real information, like a location, just an arbitrary phone number.

Each block is 1/8 of a mile. From 720 S Mich you'll be closeish to the South Loop location of the Bongo Room, a place I that I surprisingly like quite a bit for brunch. Manny's is worth a trip if you're from anywhere but NYC. You're also not terribly far from the original Al's Beef on Taylor. The place is dirty but mad tasty. You can also stop at Mario's for an Italian ice. It's famous if not particularly amazing. Chinatown is also worth checking out, but that's a bus or a cab south. I really liked Lao Sze Chuan. Over in the West loop I was all about Avec. You could even stop there for some late night eats. Frontera is fine and you "have" to go there, but I've never been completely blown away. It can be very good though. Interestingly, one of my bosses this summer was a German ex-pat and I repeatedly grilled him for good German restaurants. He refused to give me one, calling them all substandard. You can take that as you will. And, of course, get to Alinea if there's any possible way. That's, like, a given.

Fun thread. I want to see results and the prep going into them. Part of me says go for it. I do dinner parties of your size quite frequently, with the same philosophical motivation (but admittedly fewer courses). With that said, based on the menu you've planned it's going to be a bitch. Possible, I think, but not something that you'll enjoy in the moment. If you can pull it off, however, mad props. I will have something to aspire to. Doing s'fers for service is just annoying if you don't have someone whose sole job it is do make them for you. If your guests have never seen them before, fine, go for it. But I don't think it's worth the time given your constraints.

I'm with Russell re: the Wynn and Bellagio. Only Bally's Sterling Brunch on Sundays has true "WTF" factor. Not so much "wow!" because even at Bally's the food isn't of wow-quality. It's more like, "I can't believe I can load my plate with lobster tails, fillet mignon, oysters, and caviar, then come back and do it again."

I liked Paris a lot for breakfast a few years ago. Not sure if my tastes have since changed or it's gone down hill at all, but it still seems to be a favorite. I preferred the Bellagio buffet to the Wynn buffet in my recent Vegas travelblog, but the room at the former is somewhat depressing, very buffet-like.

Yes, that is correct. Long term career opportunity-wise a Cornell degree will go much, much, much further. To say that the CIA is "Ivy League" in what it "does" misses the point. Cornell is an Ivy League school, and a very hot one at that if recent news stories are to be believed. The hotel school is very unique. Although I'd encourage students to pursue a liberal arts education and eschew specializing in their undergrad studies, if one wants to get into the hospitality business, Cornell is a great place to start.

A well-stated post, I think.

Update: F&F right now, open to the public on Saturday. The phone bounces to the kitchen if it's not being answered at the FOH so calling is not advisable. I may be sending an associate there this evening to see if she can weasel her way in.

Cornell = Ivy League institution CIA = Definitely not If for some reason the biz doesn't work out for you, you can do a lot more with a degree from Cornell than from the CIA.