BryanZ

Don't even get me started on Tyler Hansborough. I had no idea Fishmongers sold retail seafood. How are their prices and quality? I ask because I find the seafood selection at Whole Foods Durham to be very, very week.

Thanks for the pricing update. $52 isn't bad at all. I'm sure it might be like $55 by the summer or something but whatever.

I'm looking to get a current update of pricing and what's included. The website lists $46, is this accurate? Based on what I'm reading, cocktails aren't included, but are juice and coffee? There seems to be somehwat of a disconnect between $46 and $80, so I'm just trying to clear this up.

That laptop control is really cool. Can you explain how that works a little bit further?

Someone really should call the company and ask how this is done. I'm still banking on some sort of enzyme that holds the shrimp together. Does anyone have contact information for the company itself? I'll do the research if I can get a name.

In somewhat related news, Duke just bought up a good deal of the houses immediately surrounding East Campus. Around Swift, Main, Markham, Buchanan, etc. They plan to sell them to individuals and not rent them out to students, as has been done in the past. This improves town-gown relations to a certain extent but also forces Duke students further off campus for social activities. It will be interesting to see if Duke's real estate purchases have any measurable effect. In also related news, I recently had a meal at Tylyer's Taproom on the inside of the American Tabacco complex. Surprisingly, the place doesn't totally suck. It's better than Applebee's, Friday's, and all that chain crap for less money, too. It's certainly no Federal, but I was pleasantly surprised.

Bad ass posts. I was going to go last summer but never made it. I am DEFINITELY going this summer, drive from North Jersey to Philly be damned.

Very, very strange. If they're whole shrimp, as opposed to ground patties, there has to be some transglutaminase or something of the sort holding them together.

That's certainly a tall order for the Triangle, and, unfortunately I can't offer you a lot of help. Perhaps some of the people who have been in the Triangle for longer can chim in, but you're asking for a lot. As for the new Pop's venture, it's going to be a small French bistro with a bakey attached, I believe. I don't forsee it being better than Guglhupf, however.

Undoubtedly a good restaurant, if only a little old school. Le Petit Chateau was one of my first ever high-end meals. I wonder, however, if they get enough local business. The couple of time I've been it hasn't been all that crowded. This harkens back to the best fine dining town in NJ thread that's causing quite the little bit of controversy. A good to very good restaurant, in an affluent area that sometimes doesn't garner as much praise and business as it should, at least comapred to such big names like Ryland Inn, Saddle River Inn, Nicholas, etc. I wonder why this is (high prices, somewhat obscure location, etc)?

Under normal circumstances I would consider this to be a pretentious statement. In this case, however, it's completely accurate.

Bruni's Friday podcast was interesting in that it defended Del Posto and some of it more supposedly pretentious aspects (and perhaps indirectly aimed to assert his review earlier in the week). Bruni again makes it seem like he's trying to convince the dining population to be more open-minded with respect to high-end Italian dining. His Batali favoritism and anti-avant garde perspective have already been discussed here, but I think that it's worth noting that Bruni continues to advance what seems like a distinctive agenda, for better or for worse.

Brown University is completely self-op with a staunch emphasis on local agriculture and in-house production. This system severely limits student dining options, however, and is therefore unpopular. Conversely, Yale uses Aramark, but also places emphasis on organics. Student dining at Yale also isn't all that popular despite the environmental push. Not to start an entirely separate thread but merely offering local products doesn't guarantee quality. In my opinion, on-campus competition must exist to have truly exemplary foodservice. If environmental sustainability can be incorporated into this mix, all the better, but what college kids really care about is food quality and variety. With that said, even though I'm involved in nearly every possible way in Duke's dining servcies, I don't know that much about its large-scale food production. I look forward to jkonick's article.

It's my understanding that you use lecithin in a carbon dioxide foam chamber to help stabilize the foam. The lecithin allows less viscous items to foam. Please correct me if I'm mistaken.

Good story. College dining is going through a lot of changes right now in all fronts. Things are getting smaller, more local, at a lot of schools, with a more pronounced stance toward sustainability. Universities like Yale and Brown, though they have very different setups for their dining services programs, place a clear emphasis on organics and supporting local agriculture. Duke, too, is moving in this direction, and, in my opinion, brings a lot to the table with its diverse mix of independent, local retailers and somewhat larger food service vendors. For anyone interested, here's a story I recently wrote on the changing perceptions of college dining. Here's another piece by a colleague of mine that documents the possibility for campus (and, I suppose, any other institutional) dining program beyond massive corporations like Aramark.

I'm tempted to make the flight. It's week of my finals and would be a great way to finish the year.

If docsconz and I are correct, it's the same technique. We'll have to wait back to hear from Jasper, however.

why? it's like comparing Babbo and Lupa. two restaurants in exactly the same milieu...one is clearly intended to be casual (albeit expensive) and one is intended to be extremely refined and elegant. But they're both making the same type of food. the first is intended to be a 3-star (I think)...the second is clearly aimed at being a four-star restaurant. ← I personally find the food at wd-50 and Alinea quite different. Yes, they are both modern, but the presentations and flavor profiles of the dishes are quite distinct from one another. To me both restaurants are incredibly unique and don't really warrant comparison on all but the most basic (and simplistic) levels.

That is most defnitely what I would predict.

Comparing wd-50 and Alinea is like comparing apples to oranges.

Thanks for the input alexw. I recently picked up some Activa RM, which was recommended to me by Ajinomoto's product rep. Apparently that's what all the big boys are using these days. I plan to start a "TG homecooking" thread once I get access to a decent kitchen. As for the xanthan gum, it is kind of cool. I've been uping the ante, so to speak, and have thickened a bunch of random stuff to vary degrees. I still haven't used any in any dishes yet because I, once again, don't have access to a proper kitchen at the moment.

They'd probably be willing to come up with something special for your wife. It's no guarantee, but in my experience they've always been very accomodating to special requests. In fact, that's one of the reasons I, and I'm sure many others, love wd-50 so much. It's totally innovative without a hint of pretentiousness.

I assume you're stalking eBay. Small baths can that don't look like total crap can be found for about $100, you just have to be patient. With that said, with all the time you're spending trying to find a bath for $100 you're probably better spending $50 more at which there are bound to be a few options.

I've really found that the best way to go about doing it is to be gentle and let gravity do its thing. Also, practice makes perfect. The first couple I ever did looked like crap. It, like most things, gets easier once you've done a few. With that said, if Shola has any surefire tips I'd love to hear them.

I'm going to double-post since I might be more likely to get a detailed response here. Anyway, what's going on in this dish? What's the pastry part? Is there anything inside it?