BryanZ

For your viewing displeasure. Marisa, (somewhat) exposed. There's classy, then there's this girl.

What could possibly be trashier than the B&T crowd?

I'll be back again this weekend. The g/f is coming in from a town where red sauce reigns and is hankerring for some classic French. It should be noted that the servers who were working on the very busy night I went were great. Very accomodating and friendly despite the obvious stress.

Why is that funny? Its common practice in the UK - its to try and cut down on the number of no-shows. ← My simpleton self was amused at the verb "to ring." I'm easily amused, what can I say? I also love British accents on women. This isn't all that related but a similar thing happened with the g/f making a reso at per se earlier today. She made the reso under my name and the reservationist asked if she was my secretary. I'm not sure how appropriate that question is. Personally I wanted her to say something like "Yes, I am his secretary, and I'll be dining with him." ETA: Thanks for the link, Andy. It appears that Jean-Baptiste, from the F Word, will be running the dining room. I'm excited.

Thank you much.

That's interesting. When I made the reservation (in person at the restaurant), they said my request for counter seats would be no problem at all. And I saw that counter seating vs. table seating shows up on a different portion of their computer screen, so there's definitely clear differentiation. Yeah, as I'm sure you well know, it ain't easy. I only have one friend crazy (er, uh...adventurous) enough to go placea like L'Atelier, and not run away in horror when a $500+ check for two people is placed before us.... Same friend with whom I went to Masa. Same friend who I'll be joining at a wine dinner at Per Se next week. Good friend. ← I need some more bank. For sure. From my perspective I can't see spending $200+ on a meal that's not an entire experience. I like the pageantry, etc, etc. It will likely be a while until I get to Atelier. Unless... You happened to see what was on this fleeting (possibly fictitious) club menu! Either way, I'd love to hear a full report when you get the time.

Stopped by tonight for some initial impressions. I think I'll take to liking this place a lot. The restaurant was obviously understaffed tonight (only 2 waitresses, the host and chefs were running food) but overall the vibe and food was good. The fundamentals are there and they were very accomodating to my party but I would like to see a bit more attention paid to the food and its presentation. While it all was quite tasty, greasy plate rims, off-center plating, lukewarm dishes, and other small issues somewhat tainted the experience. I'm quite sure they'll work out all the issues in coming weeks. Definitely call ahead by an hour or two if you want a table, it was packed tonight and there's literally NOWHERE else to wait in the area; this is downtown Durham afterall. I will certainly be back in coming weeks. The signs are good, and this is one of the few places in Durham where I might want to eat and could afford to on a somewhat regular basis.

Kids like this are dumbasses who have no future. Definitely. I would say there's no hope. Definitely should stick to I-banking or law school. Yep.

I saw this today at a screener. It's really not good, not good at all. The three story lines which are supposed to interconnect don't. It has no resolution, even though it is a plot-driven film. And to make matters worse it drags so bad, you're just waiting for it to end. It's not even tragic in the way say Requiem for A Dream (the film) or even The Jungle (the novel) is. There's not feeling of emotional despair, no anger at the evil capitalist machine, just plain boredom. Bruce Willis' cameo brings the only touch of reality to what was otherwise a big waste of my time. And to top it all off, Avril Lavigne is in this movie. Avril Lavigne! Please don't go.

tupac where do you find friends at school to drop that much bank with you? I need some of your friends, seriously.

In the same vein, I wanted to see Marcel's take on sushi/sashimi.

As of last Friday this place is open. One of their sous chefs is an eG member, perhaps he'll chime in or check in when he gets some time. The $25 menu looks great for classic French bistro fare grounded by the North Carolinian terroir. With this place and Piedmont, I personally am very excited with this emphasis on local ingredients here in Durham. I'll check it out in the next few days and let you guys know how things are in the restaurants infancy. http://www.ruecler-durham.com/

A really strange, but well-written article. From a stylistic standpoint you knew where it was going right from the get-go, but I still thought it drew the reader in. I personally was waiting for his culinary epiphany/binge circa page 7-8. Does anyone else think that "Adam" is Adam Platt, NY Mag's food critic? It just would've been too perfect.

Marissa is a huge bitch. As Chef said, Otto rectified the situation and upon taking responsibility at the end should've been cleared (at least somewhat) of his lapse in judgement. Marissa should have been sent home not only for her terrible food but for her inability to support her team. What Team Korea should have done is meet as a group, then go to Chef as a group, instead of Marissa going behind all of their backs. I have a crush on Elia, she's endearing. Marcel isn't being Stephen-y enough for me to love him yet, hopefully soon. And it was baller for Ilan to come right out and say their dish was much better than the pho of Team Vietnam. He was somewhat too forward about it but I respect him for that. ETA: I was so upset about Marissa when I first wrote this I forgot to comment on the challenges. They're much, much harder this season. Since they're so much more industry-focused I wish they'd show more technique and process as to what the chef are actually doing. The butchery of the fish, more of the dishes, the process of getting together and producing food for nearly 1000 diners.

Part of me wants to do a hypermodern Thanksgiving. But then part of me says I want to do what I usually do and go over the top with well-prepared classic dishes. We shall see what pans out. Needless to say Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.

The bruleed foie gras. Tasty.

There's a pretty good account of both Yasuda and Sugiyama here on eG with rough prices. Figure about a $100 at Yasuda maybe a bit more around the same at Sugiyama, both w/o much alcohol. If you go super luxe it'll be more but what makes both places great is that they have more affordable options too that can put you into the $75 per person category, too.

Listen to docsconz, word for word. Drop the tasting menu at Danube and definitely do EMP. I've done both in the past six months or so and EMP is farrrrr superior. I'm not sure if Blue Smoke qualifies as destination worthy. I'd also add Room 4 Dessert, given your pastry interest. So in summary, if I was doing your trip I'd be SURE to include: Dinner or at least a dessert tasting at wd~50 Tasting menu at EMP Lunch at Jean-Georges Degustation followed by Room 4 Dessert The Babbo pasta menu, Casa Mono, and Upstairs are all great choices but not required, I feel.

Just like last year, this list is mainly just really annoying. No Yasuda or Sugiyama on the Jap front? No EMP? (Perhaps the chef change came too late, but still it's better than just about any restaurant on that 1-star list.) Vong still with 1? Del Posto with 2?!!!

Probably served along with the largely traditional mignardises that inlcluded, at one point, pot au creme. Creme brulee wouldn't be much of a stretch.

Potato chips aside, I just recently found pimenton, at Target of all places. I'd searched Wegmans, a few Whole Foods locations, and several gourmet boutiques to no avail. It appears that McCormick has just come out with Spanish smoked paprika. I can't vouch for the quality but it sure is smokey. It also has a nice depth of flavor Hungarian hot paprika doesn't. I cooked with it recently to add some deeper flavor chords to a vegetarian dish I was doing and it turned out very well. So those who can't find pimenton, head to your local Super Target.

Samples from Dow. Just be convincing. If you're in anyway associated with the "industry" just be persistent. Took me a couple emails and calls, but I got the stuff without any undue stress. It also helps if you vaguely know what you're talking about. PM me if you want more info.

This stuff is really interesting. My first formal experiment wasn't exactly an overwhelming success, but I've heard of people who have failed miserably at putting this stuff together. My first experiment was the hot "ice cream" posted at Ideas in Food. One of the big things they say is to avoid aeration. I think this was my problem, since little air bubbles during the blending process got trapped in the gel and kept the ice cream from being as dense. I also feel like it doesn't quite melt as much as it softens. You know how ice cream has a solid core and the outside melts into puddles as it warms. This is more like a gel at the center and the outside softens and becomes creamier. The two are subtle differences in explanation but are quite different when one is actually eating and working with the hot ice cream. Although the recipe says the scoops are supposed to become quite firm I didn't observe this. This could be because I incorporated too much air. In one of their notebooks they make the following comment: "Think about adding carrageenan and gelatin to the hot ice cream recipe." This makes sense as it might make for easier scooping and formation of the weak gel pre-poaching. By using SGA150, I think they're trying to get maximum gelation upon heating without adding to much viscosity to the "post-poaching cooled" base. By adding gelatin you could create a stronger "pre-poaching cool" gel base. Upon heating the gelatin would be denatured, giving you a lower viscosity "post-poaching cooled" base, more analagous in mouth feel to ice cream. Of course, the above is pure speculation and likely incorrect. I'm waiting for you s_sevilla to give me some scientific explanation that I can google to try to understand. A picture of the dessert. As you can tell I'm having trouble with the shape because I lack a hemispherical ice cream scoop. I tried to quenelle as best I could but the pre-poaching gel is too weak to hold much shape without support. For those familiar with spherication, this is like to trying to make a nice s'pher with a table spoon.

I cooked tonight. Vegetarian. It was a challenge, but I think it went well. I couldn't even use animal-based stocks and broths. Here are some of the dishes. Spicy zucchini, potatoes, baby corn, cauliflower puree, slow-cooked egg Another take on carbonated grapes, this time as a cheese plate. Carbonated grapes, almond powder, Chapel Hill Creamery cheese The first attempt at hot ice cream Vanilla, chocolate chip cookie, strawberries sous vide, chocolate I will discuss the hot ice cream further in the methocel thread.

Bringing this thread back on topic. Since it appears the JohnL has dropped the ball, I took one for the eG team and picked up some of the Whole Foods Manni. Packaging. There's this promotional insert inside thats like "Manni is amazing, Thomas Keller loves Manni, by buying this olive oil you will become Thomas Keller, etc. etc." From a taste perspective, it lacks the depth of flavor and punch of per mi and the fruit of mio figlio. It picks up with a nice bit of pepper and spice at the back end but doesn't awake the palate as something truly special like the main pressings do. I still remember my first Manni experience. Worth $40.00? I don't think so. As Vadouvan pointed out it's a big time holiday marketing scheme. It's tasty olive oil but maybe at half the price, and it doesn't quite live up to the Manni name.