Bill Miller

We ate at Gramercy in January and it was as good a meal/service/ attention to detail/creative food as I have ever had. As a single you can eat at the bar--we started there for a cocktail while waiting for our table. I made reservations a month in advance.

I pull apart and shread breast meat. Hellmans mayo, dill relish, chopped water chestnuts, a lot of curley parsley, worchestershire sauce ( a dash), white, black, and cayenne pepper, chopped celery and chopped onion.

The best promotional for Ligurian cuisine came from either a PBS or Discovery channel story about a farmer there who climbed a hill with some basil in his hand and made some pesto in a mortar. He talked about each ingredient as he added it and his speech was such that you salivated at the thought of grinding the basil, salt, and garlic . The olive oil brought it all together and the king of cheese perfected it. He should have recevied the Ligurian award for tourism promotion. He mixed in the pasta and you really wanted some of that wonderful creation he was absolutely enjoying. I made some of my very own immediately.

I get mine from Sea Bear out of Washington state--supposedly 2 days after it's caught. Really special--better than I've found in stores. Expensive though. Mine will come in mid june.

I just saw this thread--I just posted a new one on sea beans. They are salty and if cooked too long become too salty and fishy. Really very good--great with seafood.

We blanched some sea beans last nite and served with sauted' Dover Sole and a caprese salad. Wonderful warm spring dinner with a generic sauvignon blanc. The sea beans need nothing but some brown butter--don't overcook--they supposedly turn real salty and fishy. Just blanch and serve with the butter poured over. I' really am impressed with them and will try raw in some sort of salad next.

louisianafoods.com is a site to find turtle meat and other things. I got it from Brennans. Airline Seafood doesn't have any.

We are serving 26 at a dinner party next week and the first course is turtle soup.Brennan's cookbook lists Airline Seafood as a source of meat, but they can't get it anymore. Anybody have any ideas where in Houston I can get it?

I think it is a great place. The menu doesn't change that much--what they do they do well. Marks is better than DaMarco. You can't miss with Simposios. Cafe Montrose does a great lunch.

Alison Cook trashed the resteraunt today in the Chronicle. I never cared for her (him?) anyway. Too gushy about her favorites while even ignoring others.

Thanks so much--I'll let my friend know too.

One of these is for sale on the web. Current bid is $268.77. Any chance this is any good?

We got some 98 cent/lb asparagus last week. My wife made 10 jars of pickled asparagus --great at a party and eye glazing in a bloody bull.

Frankly, speaking only for myself and no one else, I've never drunk any cat's pee, either. (Although I like Villa Maria so much that it makes me think I ought to try.) ← We are serving Villa Maria to a dinner party for 26 on the 9th of May. Real bargain too.

My wife is originally from South Carolina and has four "Grits" T-shirts in different colors. She sometimes response "How nice", instead of something off color. I love it.

We love Pommes Anna (sp?), and it looks so good in presentation with grilled asparagus and sliced beefsteak tomatoes with blu cheese.

We keep Classico with Basil and use it as a base when we are in a hurry. To me it's like a canvas--you can turn it into an arrabiata, puttanesca, a ragu or your own creation. We grow fresh herbs and they make anything taste good. I know he fell from grace, but "the Frugal Gourmet" had a great homemade fresh tomato sauce recipe. We make some each year and freeze it--when we get low or run out the Classico helps fill the void.

We had a lot of interaction at Silver Oak and Beringer. Very congenial folks--great conversations and wines. Of course I'm talking Cabs. The Sterling vinyard was a lot of fun and their merlots were good. The next year we went to the Wilamett (sp?)valley in Oregon for Pinot Noir. Fabulous!!!

The writer's tongue is coated with vanilla and butter from an overoaked chardonnay. He will never like the light, clean, crisp, herbal flavors of Kim Crawford. Thats ok, it leaves more for me.

We had this lovely wine with a steak over the weekend. I'm not a big merlot fan but this one really got me. It was rich with black cherry and smooth subtle tanins. It lingers in the mouth and was almost like velvet. We read the label afterwards and it said we should have tasted vanilla. We tasted none. I don't care for heavy vanilla anyway, but does it go away with age? Just learning to detect all the flavors. Has anyone else tasted this wine?

You know I read thru this thread and I have to say if Houston has a signiture dish it woud be grilled rib eye steak, fried potatoes, creamed spinach, and sliced beefsteak tomatoes with blu cheese crumbles. Not bad.

If they are doing an "Austin City Limits" while you are there, go---no matter what style of music is performed. My stepson says there are more pretty girls at Jason's Deli than in some states. Great town.

Somebody may have done this but it is new to me!! Combine one cup of tomato juice, 1/2 cup vodka, 1 Tbls of pesto, hot sauce (crystal) to taste in a blender until smooth. Put a small mozzarella cube and 1/2 cherry tomato in each of 6 shot glasses. Fill with vodka mixture. Garnish with basil chiffonade. Serve on a bed of ice. Caprese Shooters.

Caprese Shooters I thru this together over the weekend. Someone may have already made these but I've never seen it. 1 c Tomato juice (chilled) 1/2 c Vodka (chilled) 1 T Pesto Hot sauce to taste 6 small mozzarella cubes 3 small cherry tomatoes-halved Basil leaves- chiffonade Combine first four ingredients in a processor and process until smooth. In each of six shot glasses place a mozzarella cube and a half cherry tomato. Fill each glass with the vodka mixture and serve on a bed of crushed ice. Garnish with the basil. Makes 6 drinks. Keywords: Cocktail, Hors d'oeuvre, Easy ( RG1697 )

I agree, but I think she started specifying Gruyere cheese--wonderful.