BryanZ

#1: 8 #2: 7 As others have mentioned, #2 seemed more creative but #1 had greater overall impact.

63C is def. the way to go. I've posted this in a couple other threads but when you get the egg right it's so awesome. The yolk runs out beautifully and, in the case of this dish, creates something like a broken emulsion with the beurre monte on the asparagus.

ChefT, can you explain more clearly the reasoning behind the reverse spherication process. In my experience I've found that mixing CaCl with the liquid being spherized introduces an unpleasant flavor. In the case of the mojito why not just alginate the mojito mix rather than add the xanthan. It seems that the xanthan is just being used to thicken the mojito mixture, so why reverse spherize when the alginate will do the thickening just the same?

Yeah, I have a rough inventory set up on Excel of the equipment and stuff I have here. Let's just say that I'm more or less guaranteed to be operating at a loss even if I was charging a lot of money. From an investment standpoint, this is hardly viable. It's a good thing I'm not doing it to make money. Here's a picture of my luxurious kitchen pre-unpacking. It's long and narrow, but actually better than I thought it would be. The lack of light is what I've found to be most challenging right now. I'll post pictures of the living/dining area later.

I'm cooking the food I like to cook. This is a learning experience so my menus are a direct result of my ideas and the ideas of others who I respect. Reception has been quite good if a little bit surprised that I'd be undertaking just a project. I honestly just want to cook for people and help them think about food in a new way. I'm not sure if these people will be people I meet on campus or through other avenues. Which brings me to your very pertinent question, is NC ready for this style of food. To be honest, I don't know of anyone in the area who cooks the way I do with the exception of Sean Brock. Not that I'm putting myself in any sort of league with him and his achievements, but I guess you could say he's the only person in the area doing what I want to do. I'm pretty bored with New Southern cuisine, even New American in general save for a few top notch chefs, so this is my way to kind of blaze my own path. In my heart of hearts, I don't think NC is ready for this type of food (many would argue even NYC isn't), but I'm going to go at it anyway because my goal here is to share with people my ideas and passion. I'd love to be shown that people will flock to this style of cooking, but I'm not sure I see it. All sorts of puveyors. This is my biggest problem, sourcing. I'm wasting so much time and expense on getting the stuff I want that shopping for one meal could take several hours spread out over several trips and days. I'm proud to say the flatware worked quite well. I have three different sets now, thanks to my roommates, so that angle is covered. I'm still a bit short on china and have no proper stemware. This last fact depresses me, as I've wasted hours searching for stuff cheap enough and not-ugly enough. For this first meal I cooked for five, that included myself, three friends, and a friend's father. Cost is hard to compute right now but I will try to keep better tabs of that. Staple items like oils, vinegars, spices, boxed stocks, are difficult to compute since they're used in small quantities over all types of cooking. Nuts and bolts operations will be documented somewhere, I'm just not sure where yet.

I understand where you're coming from, but in all honesty I'm hosting private dinner parties. I'd rather not talk too much about that aspect of things though.

Avid eG participants have probably heard of my desire to open up a unique, private dining experience in the Triangle in other threads. Now that I'm back in North Carolina, I'm now in the process of making this a reality. For those who don't know, I'm a full-time student, but hopefully this project will grow and take on a life of its own. So I have the space, the equipment, and the ideas to create a dining concept unlike anything else in the Triangle, serving hypermodern cuisine out of a private residence. My inspiration for the project came from the late and great StudioKitchen in Philadelphia. I invite you all to check out my website, Z Kitchen, to learn more. There you will find a more detailed overview of what I'm trying to do. Just so you have an idea, here's a menu I served last night. And a couple dishes not on the website. I'd love to answer questions or field comments if people have them.

I kind of cheated and didn't use one because I couldn't find one. I might imagine anchos would be good.

This blog is going to be pretty sweet. I wish I had an eG girlfriend, maybe I'll pick one up on my next blog. I love Ling's cooking and loved hhlo's last blog and entire lifestyle. When your powers combine... Anyway, I, too, am looking forward to the Iron Chef showdown. I might give the edge to Ling, however. Should be a good week.

Aren't the two the same thing. It's more or less flavored mayonnaise. The "original" Andres version creates the emulsification without the egg, however. I was talking about the egg version. And yes, it does mellow with time.

Stemware for wines is giving me quite the headache. I can't find anything decent for cheap enough. I don't like wine glasses smaller than 12 oz and prefer 22 oz. glasses for reds. Unfortunately, all the stuff commonly found at discounters like TJ Maxx, Home Goods, and Target doesn't quite fit that bill. Even if I am able to find a glass I like they usually don't have more than a few. Shopping at department stores is too expensive and I don't know of any good restaurant supply stores near me at school. Suggestions?

Which unfortunately remain unanswered.

As an update, I definitely decided to keep them. I also have a set of more traditional flatware I can use, and I can "borrow" items from the school if it comes to it.

I still have a hard believing how the reverse spherication using CaCl is a viable method. In my experience, you have to add CaCl to the extent that its taste is very noticeable and unpleasant. Maybe they were using that calcium lactate stuff?

So what's next? Hopefully another venture in NYC?

Biding my time.... I'm writing this post having just arrived in my apartment just a couple hours ago. The kitchen isn't a total trainwreck, so I think I have a shot. In keeping this post on topic, I can guarantee perhaps the most unique dining experience in the Triangle with, hopefully, some pretty good food. Details to follow.

After the big hullabaloo over Gilt not re-opening as planned, I was able to get a last minute reservation at Sugiyama at the bar. I had wanted to show the g/f the finer side of avant garde cooking at Gilt but instead settled on taking her on a condensed journey through traditional Japanese fine dining. For this, I can't recommend Sugiyama enough. It's a great restaurant that allows less experienced diners the opportunity to get true tastes of Japan. Is it as good as some of the top meals I've had in Japan? No, not quite. But it does evoke the spirit and essence of authentic Japanese cooking. We had both the eight-course standard kaiseki and the upgraded "omakase" eight-course meal. While similar, the upgraded version does provide more choice bites and shows how complex Japanese cooking can really be. If I were to go again for a high-end Japanese fix, I would save the money and stick with the cheaper option, but for a semi-blow out meal/special occasion, the upgraded meal is quite luxurious. Many of Sugiyama's broths, custards, and fish cakes, are about as good flavor-wise as I've had, and I've enjoyed VERY high-end dining in Japan. Where Sugiyama can't compete is in the protein-dominated courses and in refinement. The sashimi here is great, probably on the short-list of New York, but isn't life-changing. The same can be said of the of beef and seafood cooked on the hot rock. The mood of the room is more like an izakaya than traditional kaiseki restaurant or ryokan. This isn't a bad thing, but without the zen-like surrounding I do feel that part of the magic is lost. It is great to watch the chefs and ask them questions, something that would be unheard of in a similar restaurant in Japan. All in all, I really enjoyed myself. The meal was transporting not in a revolutionary way but in one that undoubtedly brought me back to Japan. The fact that Yakitori Totto is right next door only added to that feeling. I realize it's unfair to compare this place to my dining experiences in Japan, so barring that I do feel as though this is a great restaurant for kaiseki in the US.

This is all I was trying to say. Despite the similarities on the surface, actual operations were quite different. Because of these subtle differences and the avant garde food, Gilt, to me, was a better (for my tastes this often is synonymous with "more exciting") restaurant. Unfortunately, it seems that much of the NY dining public doesn't support this type of cuisine (yet?).

Other than the opening of Vivace several months back, is there anything that's opened more recently that might have a shot of "best" or, at least" "pretty damn good." Whatever happened to that bistro by the Pop's Trattoria folks?

Asiate is perhaps an apt comparison since it's also in a hotel and probably doesn't get much "foot" traffic due to its location and setup. The difference, however, is the style of food. Asiate serves "safe" food; it's yet another take on Asian-New American fusion. Their type of food won't offend and they've got a killer view to boot. Gilt under Liebrandt, on the other hand, had the potential to offend given its somewhat non-traditional cuisine. Asiate's service model seems to be organized as an upper mid-level restaurant, rather than Gilt's true fine dining appraoch. Personally, Gilt was on my short list of places to return to. The cost was somewhat prohibitive, but they did make attempts to attract more clients with their pre-theater seating. I would've been eating at Gilt this evening and was really looking forward to the meal, so all of this is unfortunate. As details of the split are still hazy, its hard to say if I'm disappointed in the hotel for asking Liebrandt to leave, Liebrandt for packing up and out, or NYC diners for not supporting this type of food. From a pure cuisine standpoint, I found Liebrandt's dishes to be some of the most thought-provoking I've ever had.

In my experience, I've found the sphere solidifies before it leaks out. I hadn't though of carbonating spheres or caviar but it's a cool idea. Doesn't the presence of CO2 change pH, so might that mess up the gel matrix? I'm just hypothesizing.

I thought the middle of the show dragged out a bit, but I suppose that's evocative of their own experience. The end of the show got really interesting and it was interesting to see his experiences after having read about them. The final monologue, however, was a bit troubling. Was that Bourdain being his melodramatic self or was there perhaps a darker streak of truth in his somewhat pessimistic voiced-over confession? Do experiences like this change one's world view that fundamentally?

Does anyone have a link to the article in W? I can't seem to find one.

Interesting. I can forsee a Gilt-like debate, given the high drink prices and what some might call a severe disconnect between the food being offered, the restaurant's overall vibe, and the prices being charged. Only this time the stakes are much higher, given Robuchon's reputation and all the hype that's been following the place.

I have a valuable whole lobe of foie gras sitting in deep-freeze. I'm leaving home and would like to take this item with me in the car. I'll be driving from NJ to NC, about eight hours. Do you guys know if this is possible, will it keep and not thaw out? It was shipped to me frozen with some freezer gel packs but will that alone suffice? I feel like I need to keep it MUCH colder. Maybe dry ice in a small cooler? If anyone has any experience with this type of thing I'd love to hear it. Thanks.