BryanZ

I do the carbonated fruit for two reasons. First, people really like it. Second, my pastry skills are, shall we say, in perpetual development. In all seriousness, however, I don't post all of my menus here and I do occasionally venture into foreign pastry land. For example, for most first time visitors I'll do the carbonate fruit. For repeats I'm not going to serve the same thing. If you want to give me ideas, I'm more than willing to give them a try. I will admit that my food is very simple, bordering on sparse. I think the problem or issue of contention some people have is that my food isn't quite brimming with soul in the traditional sense, nor does it really push the presentation boundaries. I make no apologies for this but it is something that I do consider. My development goal is not so much to make the food more avant garde but to make each dish more holistic and less formulaic. I've just come back from a week of ridiculous eating in Europe and came to the realization that a good dish is incredibly easy to make, be it in the classical or modern framework. What is really inspirational and challenging is making a great dish whose components seem made for each other and really sum up to something greater than its individual attributes. I feel like this is particularly challenging in the modern framework because the cook already starts at something of a disadvantage by seving diners what is initially "unfamiliar."

Although my French is non-existant it appears that after 9:40, for this week only, service on the E is suspended. Just my luck. Hmm.

Can anyone who is familiar with Les Magnolias help me out in figuring out how to get back from the restaurant later in the evening. It seems that the last train is 10:22 and my dinner reservation is at 8. How much is a taxi back to the 7e in Paris or is there a late night bus that runs? I'm trying to move my dinner earlier if possible but if that's not possible, what are my options? Thanks so much. I leave for Paris from London tomorrow for meals at Gagnaire and Les Magnolias on Wednesday.

A couple final questions. The girlfriend wants to know what the dress code is like at El Celler de Can Roca for lunch. Would I be okay in a suit with no tie, or should I scale it back to just slacks, collared shirt, and a nice leather jacket? The g/f feels like she should be wearing bright colors and patterns to "fit" Spain--Paris on the other hand is chic and monochromatic. She's very fashion conscious, is this appropriate? (I was forced to make that part of the post against my will. Bear with me.) I'm planning to visit Taktika Berri after Jamonisimo on Friday afternoon (before Alkimia that night). Based on what I've read there is no menu and reservations are recommended. Will ordering be a problem (can I just like point to stuff) and can I stroll in later in the afternoon (before its 4pm closing) without a reservation?

The Cock Tavern seems interesting. Has anyone been? Is it seedy as it sounds? Not that that's necessarily a bad thing.

I'm in London now, enjoying various eG dining recommendations. What I would like, however, is somewhere I can find a quintesentially traditional English breakfast. Ideally this breakfast would be quite affordable and, more importantly, near Marble Arch or Bloomsbury. I'm staying on Oxford Street but realize I probably won't find much right there; I'm looking for something that may be located off a side street or something that I might not otherwise have noticed. I'm also spending some time by UCL's campus, so that's why I mentioned the Bloomsbury area. Any good pubs, maybe with some history, by Marble Arch/Bond St tube stops would also be great. Ideally walking distance just for a quick pint or two would be better rather than something that's a tube or bus ride away. Thanks.

Is it really that positive though? Chef Ferguson is being replaced in what seems like an unfavorable light. Furthermore, oakapple is right, how does one extract the Chef de Cuisine from a restaurant that is ostensibly still run by a global celebrity chef? Then again it seemed that Tony Esnault brought an significant improvement to the food at ADNY. Was he a critical and commercial success? Probably less so.

I will hopefully be the recepient of some of FG's beans. The vanilla salt was an idea from Ideas in Food that I wanted to play with. I feel like extract alone is not always the best way to impart vanilla flavor into a dish. This vanilla salt presents itself as an attractive option for those who don't necessarily want to create a full-on vanilla-based sauce.

One thing that I believe was mentioned the "the" sous vide thread but not yet here is Alton Brown's avocado trick. Put avocadoes in your bath at about 100F for an hour and they'll resist browning much better than unbathed avocadoes. This could be an analagous situation to the broccoli in which low temperatures deactivate certain enzymes.

If you're interested, you can watch the episode on alluc.org. I watch a Mythbusters epi everynight before bed.

Sad to say that this is an urban legend. Mythbusters debunked it last year, and the technique was also debated in the Limoncello thread. ← You're incorrect. The Mythbusters actually proved that running the vodka through a charcoal filter does significantly improve its smoothness. What may have "busted" the myth is that even after 7 filtrations it still was not as good as the top-shelf brand. Still there was an improvement. What was particularly remarkable was how the vodka tasting expert placed all seven or eight filtrations in exactly the correct order. For those who are interested, they also suggested (though this wasn't that clear) that you're supposed to use a new filter cartridge for each filtration. The cost of this would far outweigh the cost of better vodka.

So what you're painting is a cyclical picture. Something as basic as Jello commercialized and popularized mass-produced gelatin desserts. Now we're doing all sorts of weird stuff with gelling agents and hydrocolloids. I think you're largely right that the majority of techniques being discovered now will pass out of fashion. With that said, a solid understanding of food science and a few revolutionary techniques like sous vide are by no means bad and will certainly have legs.

Rich, you make good points. At least for me, not living in the area for most of the year hurts. My posting habits vary significantly when I'm in town as opposed to when I am not; I suppose it has to do with some kind of relevancy/salience effect. Similarly, there are lots of us (dare I say B&T'ers) who only get into the city for special meals; we can't just come on in to try some of the underappreciated restaurants. Financial constraints also come into play, as we cannot try a new restaurant every other night. All of this this introduces a bias in which we only visit restaurants that get a lot of play here and, in turn, only post about those restaurants, as FG clearly points out. On the other hand, a wider base of posters just puts us that much closer to Chowhound. Ew. Yes, eG is insular, but it's just an internet web board and what makes it great is the relationships and personalities that arise. It's also worth noting that many times these online personalities aren't all too far from their real-life counterparts. Does it suck that there aren't more totally sweet people post? Yeah. Would it suck more if this was Chowhound? Yes, that would be the true death of the NYC board.

That guy, definitely a douche. That's all.

Just give it a heavy presalt and high heat roast a la Keller.

As others have mentioned, there are two methods. You can smoke/toast solids and use that infuse your liquid of choice. Or you can just place your liquid in a smoker and it will pick up clear smoked notes.

Honestly, this isn't even worth discussing. Foolishness indeed.

I like Shake Shack more than In N Out. It's a preference thing. Shake Shack pack beefier flavor in a similarly small burger.

Good stuff. Keep it up. Fight the system.

I heard that men make a fetish of it, trying to reduce a soulful art to an ostentatious science. ← Respect.

I heard that women can't cook

Abac or Gaig, which is cheaper? I will be coming from a lunch at Can Roca that afternoon and this will be at the end of my trip (meaning I will be broke), so even a few euro difference in price could be significant. Both restaurants really seem to be what I'm looking for: classy but not stodgy. Are there any other alternatives that others might suggest.?

What are the two $100+ items? Do you count the bo ssam?

I was under the impression that 130 is where the magic starts to happen. BBQ'ers only say to cook your pork to around 175. The amount of time the protein spends over 130 on the way up to 170-190 or whatever you choose to stop cooking at is significant, allowing for collagen breakdown. Perhaps that's the explanation.

You could also sell the reso on eBay if worse comes to worse.