BryanZ

Enjoyed a good, but not great, meal at Danube tonight. I dined with a party of four and ordered for the table off the regular tasting menu. I was able to try everything on the menu and found dishes ranging from good to very good, with nothing being truly extraordinary. For myself I ordered: Waltz of Appetizers: Kumamoto Oyster with Apple Mint Gelee, Foie Gras Terrine with Crisp Porcini, Japanese Yellowtail with Wasabi Tobiko, Crisp Portuguese Sardine Maine Day Boat Lobster with Sunchoke, Mango, Hon-Shimeji Mushrooms and a Saffron Curry Broth Veal Wiener Schnitzel with Austrian Crescent Potatoes Cucumber Salad, Mixed Greens and Lingonberries Some sort of elderberry foam and citrus sorbet palate cleanser A chocolate-hazelnut cake (I don't have a more accurate description of these last two, as they're not online, and I forgot to ask for a menu) Danube is a restaurant of many faces. The space is certainly unique, if lacking the intimacy that Bouley's vaulted ceilings provide. Additionally, some of the food is quintessential David Bouley (the stand-out lobster dish), while other items are very satisfying but somewhat out of place for the gilded setting (the weiner schnitzel and the surprisingly delicious Portugese sardine), and still others seem ill-conceived and betray the restaurant's strong reputation (the foie gras flan served to another diner lacked any assertive foie gras flavor nor was it smooth in texture). The amuse offering--a slice of kanpachi with fennel, beet, and blood orange salad-was fine but not remarkable Perhaps paired with some other accompaniment it would have made a more lasting impression. We were also served a complimentary crepe dessert for the table to share and a variety of petit fours at the conclusion of the meal. I would have preferred another flight of amuses at the beginning of the meal to the common, but still tasty, sweets at the end of the meal, however. The ladies also received a lemon loaf (bigger than usual, I think) to purportedly celebrate Mother's Day with (or something) Service, too, was competent but lacked warmth. Dishes were not explained after being set down, bread came quickly initially but a request for more was not fulfilled until several minutes later (when it was brought out it was the same batch from before, so it's not as if they were waiting for rolls straight from the oven), and the movements and demeanor of the staff were not as refined as in the city's other top restaurants. These are slight criticisms, granted, but for a restaurant with such high aspirations simple issues like these should be taken care of. Overall, Danube is still an admirable restaurant. It's $85 tasting menu is a relatively good value in a city where $100+ is the norm among 3- and 4-star locales. In my world, Danube is a very strong 2-star, low 3-star, perhaps a little less enjoyable than its sister restaurant on the other side of the block. Still, the space is striking, the food is strong, and the vibe is downtown super-chic.

There are extensive posts about this back in the thread by Nathan. To sum it up in layman's terms, it's something like the longer you keep something about 125ish or so the less harmful bacteria that survive. So far, we haven't heard any eG horror stories, so it''s seeming pretty safe. Look back and browse through this thread for a lot of good info.

That's a brilliant idea, but not using dairy certainly makes things more difficult if I want to create a proper foam. I've got some gelatin, but doesn't that break down at warm temperatures, and I doubt that my xanthan is poweful enough to create a true foam. Is the alginate strong enough by itself that it will create a decent foam in the iSi. Any ideas?

An MBA from the Wharton School, the University of Chicago, Northwestern or Stanford might, depending on whom you ask... ← According to US News, not so much. Harvard MBAs are to be respected. Hell, I don't like Harvard (boring, old-fashioned, weird kids, etc, etc) but you can't knock the value of the school's degrees and its educational standard; being a part of Harvard, in nearly any way, is an achievement in itself. And to say an MBA is useless seems highly irrational. It's a hell of a lot more useful than a masters in hotel management, in my opinion, even for the hospitality industry.

Surprisingy me, the product is from Canada (I'm used to Sonoma or Hudson Valley foie gras). At 1.62 pounds for Grade A for that price, it is well worth it. I haven't thawed and cooked mine yet, but it LOOKS good (no mottling on the color, firm, good size, etc). On the Wagyu, I ordered the tongue and it looks fabulous as well; an obviously young offering with good color. Totally undecided what to do with it but am tempted to get my meat slicer out of storage and make carpaccio... ← Once defrosted don't you have to use the whole thing in about a week, though? That seems like a lot of foie to eat in a short time. Also, does this mean you have to do the whole soaking thing to draw out the blood and try to devein the thing, etc? I've never dealt with a whole lobe and have only read about pre-preparing it in passing.

I know this isn't on topic really, but I can't believe that no one has refuted this. An MBA from Harvard looks a hell of a lot better than a BA.

Supposedly that's an issue discussed a lot in Adria's most recent cookbook. I read that somewhere here on eG. And how is this the first time I'm seeing this caviar-making product I also had no idea other people were selling reasonable quantities. Great find, pounce, for others who want to get involved.

I cooked out the alginate slurry I used with the peas but did not with the tea. I kinda liked the swirly look the occasional bubble gave to the tea orbs. Made it look kind of like a crystal ball or something. What is the breaking point of the gelatin? At Alinea it was explained to me that it was "very high," thus they were able to serve a REALLY hot liquid butter orb.

Pictures of my equipment and all sorts of sous vide info. can be seen here.

Aren't you a lawyer? I'm 19, but it's a plight I've had for a few years, as I eat out a lot. In NYC this isn't really a problem since I usually don't dine alone. But at school, in the SOUTH, I eat out alone for the newspaper and, in general, most kids aren't willing to spend as much as I do as often as I do. To make matters worse, people aren't too keen on serving underage kids in that area. It's just a big, awkward mess.

Also, how's their frozen foie gras? A whole 1 lb lobe of grade A for about $43 sounds like a great deal.

I use the ol' Cuisinart stick blender to blitz just about everything. The tea one is so round just by random chance. It was a "good" one. For each one of those I have about five mishapen tea blobs. I heated some of those and they didn't change shape at all, so I don't think heating has anything to do with it. But, the heating thing is interesting, and I'd love for people to chime in with their opinions as to what's going on. So the first one I dropped into boiling water. Turned my back for a second and the tea had gone bubbly inside the gel and had ruptured. I'm guessing that the tea inside the gel boiled. This is thermodynamics 101 right, a build up of steam inside a closed system leads to an increase in pressure, thus causing the gel to rupture. On subsequent attempts I watched the orbs closely and had them in lightly simmering water. This was much better and yielded nice warm tea orbs. Something I forgot to mention before is the different shaping techniques you need with liquids of various viscosities. I'm not sure if I can describe the "touch" needed for, say, the pea puree vs. the tea, but it was very different. I wish I could make perfect ones each time like in the Adria video.

Okay, here's a conundrum. I'm underage, thus making dining at the bar, at best, awkward. If I'm offered a seat there I'll take it but would normally prefer a table. Declining alcohol to a waiter is one thing but to a bartender it just seems wrong. Am I correct in my misgivings? In the past I've always said something like, "Well, I won't be drinking tonight so would prefer to have a table." Most places accomodate but others have innane policies that only seat single diners at the bar. I understand how this makes sense for a crowded establishment but for a half-full restaurant it doesn't seem to make much sense. So what's a kid to do?

Anything with GT in it has to be good. My question is, how could you not go for it?

No taste at all. I've noticed a lot of the hydrocolloids I've been using do impart a taste that has to be masked in some way. This is much more "pure."

Anything under pH 4 messes up the geling reaction. I tested my pH for the tea and it was about 6.5. I believe it's calcium citrate (not citrite), but please do tell me if I'm wrong. I haven't opened mine yet since I realized I bought too much and am thinking of exchanging for a smaller size.

Snapple Iced Tea? Hmmph. But yeah, I did something similar tonight. I followed Adria's recipe on the texturas site. But before we talk about tea, let's talk about peas. Peas with mint, boiled and shocked. Mmm, sodium alginate slurry Peas, mint, alginate, and some water. Pureed then strained. The fruits of my labor. Pea "caviar," "ravioli," "noodles." (I feel like I'm at per se with all these quotes) For the tea, I made a sweetened darjeeling and chilled it. Made the orbs and heated them in simmering water. The heating was really cool. I served the orbs with honey, lemon zest, and a drop or two of lemon juice. For my first time, I was very pleased with the results. Unfortunately, making these little bastards is a lot harder than they make it seem in the Decoding Ferran Adria video. Also, I found myself leaving the orbs in the CaCl bath for much longer than recommended in the recipes. 1-2 min was simply too short for large items. They weren't set and were faaarrr too fragile. 1 min is about right for the caviar, 30 seconds for the noodles. I used a, umm, fryer-scooper-outer-thing and it worked well. I also used a lot of paper towels to keep stuff dry and gunk free. I also found myself snipping at the tails of the orbs while in the CaCl bath with a pair of kitchen shears to get a more spherical appearance. By itself, the alginate does impart a detectable taste. It reminded me of Japan (clarification: everything in Japan somehow tastes faintly of the sea and the orbs, by themselves, had that same vibe). The addition of salt, mint, lemon juice, honey, etc masked this. So what's next? Alinea does a butter orb. How cool would it be to make a little pancake then put a butter orb on the inside, so it looks like an egg. Or perhaps a butter and syrup orb. The possibilities are endless.

The cross cut short ribs were a measured success. They weren't groundbreaking, but they did yield a very interesting, if subtle, texture somewhere between a solid piece of meat and ground beef. The TG bound short ribs are off to the right. When compared to the sous vide short rib to the left, you can see some of the layering in the TG piece, but it's very faint. Upon closer inspection, this effect becomes more clear. This picture probably gives the best impression of what eating this was like. The muscle fibers are short, like in ground meat, but the over shape and mouth feel is like a steak. It's hard to describe but was still quite novel.

Willpowder is such a good name. Love it.

Oh but Stephen is so lovable. He stood up for Andrea when he said, "I would rather eat sand than shit." To be perfectly franks Ken was being a total ass throughout the show and Stephen had every right to call him whatever he wanted. In general, the episode was not all that entertaining, however.

Having done both, I can say that they're both immensely more satisfying than The Modern, no disrespect intended.

Unfortunately, fun stuff like pacojets, induction ranges, steam ovens, and things like that are for the have-(a lot)-mores. One day...

My quest to become the world's biggest food trend whore continues. Water bath + vacuum machine: check A few different types of hydrocolloids and emulsifiers: check Transglutaminase: check isi whipper: check And now everything, I hope (this is getting expensive) one needs to make nifty little balls of gel. Sodium alginate and calcium chloride a la eG's very own Will Goldfarb Calcium citrate, supposedly for increasing pH. I got this stuff from a health food store. The capsules are supposedly openable and yield some kind of power. I wonder if the additives will prevent it from working, though. Anyone know? And pH strips procured by my sister from my old high school

So I tried the idea where you take a piece of beef and reconstruct it with layers of beef slices cut with the grain and against the grain. I'm not sure what this will do, but it sounded cool as I can now literally serve "cross-cut short ribs." Oh man, I crack myself up. All this talk about sticking organs and apendages got me worried. So I dawned on some plastic gloves and a bandanna and got gluing. (So this picture actually wasn't taken in my kitchen but at a pirate-themed party. Nevertheless, I did wear this thing in the kitchen. Rebel, pirate, bandit, all of the above? Cool, I know.) Here are some short ribs slices both with and against the grain. These had been dry aging for a couple days now. I'm working on a trio of short rib preparations for dinner tomorrow evening. Had I stopped here I could've made some nice Korean barebeque. But alas, I pushed forward. Mmmm, TG-slurry. I figured I had about 300 grams of meat so I used about 3 grams of TG and made a slurry. In the end I had some left over. I froze it and have no idea what this will do. For each "long" piece I added 2-2.5 "short" pieces. I brushed on the TG liberally between layers. This is the creation. Afterwards, I tightly wrapped them in plastic. We'll see what happens tomorrow afternoon. I'm thinking of roasting these guys at like 375ish. Not a slow roast but not super hot either. Again, we'll see what happens...

Craft is much better than Grammercy Tavern, I think. Going solo might be tough, however. The same could be said of Craftsteak, too. It's a rough call.