pariah_kerry

Oh, it's Thanksgiving mama cooks with margarine I'll wait for dessert

The point is to mash it all -- yes, bones, skin, liquid, and all -- and turn it into salmon croquettes. Well, you can remove the skin if it really bothers you, but it and the bones crumble into nothingness when you mix it enough. In fact, health sources recommend canned salmon as a good source of calcium because of the bones. Anyway, mash it up. Mix it with some crumbs and an egg (and herbs, if you like; no salt necessary). Let it chill and firm up. Mold it into hamburger-size cakes and saute in butter. Serve with a side of mac-n-cheese or spaghetti with tomato sauce (preferably reheated from the day before.) Can you tell I grew up on this? Just don't think of it as "salmon." I grew up on this as well during Lent; we used to drown the patties in ketchup.

so much for toaster baklava... how about toaster flautas?

Shampoo takes out blood stains.

"you call it corn, but we call it maize." I don't know why.

Tremont is closed, but the cooks are at Marks...I, however, am not any longer. Don't want to invite a lawsuit...enough said.

Had the pleasure of meeting exnewyorker, Diana, last night. Thanks again for stopping in; my boss, Mark, hates all things internet/computer related, but he's intrigued by eGullet. Now if sladeums would just get his sh** together and come in, the Omaha Trinity will be complete.

Vivace...dude... Some people really like it which makes me question life seriously. The same people own M's right around the corner, which has been an Old Market staple for the last thirty years. Don't order the escargot if you don't like seafood and cheese. They melt havarti on it. Personally, I like it, but I've been eating it for about fifteen years. The current fave of mine is the Omaha Grill sandwich. Lean, juicy beef on rye with red o's, provolone, and horseradish on the side. The bartender/manager Smitty is funny as hell. If you ever DO have to do pizza in the room, make sure you cab it out to La Casa's (the Leavenworth location) and pick one up; they don't deliver. You'll just have to trust me on this: only order the pizza.

Hey, thanks for the reference, but I"M A CHICK!!! (As confirmed by this week's Omaha Pulp.)

I know that the situation of women dining together and how they handle the check continues to be joked about, discussed, etc. But I still take offense since in all my years of dining out with women -- and those years are plenty! -- we have never once asked for separate checks, and figuring out exactly how to pay (cash, credit card, splitting, etc.) has never been a problem. I can think of just one occasion when I was with a table of 10 women when the waitress offered to provide separate checks. We did not turn her down. Last night, I went to dinner with 6 other women. When the check came, we passed it around, each woman totaled the items she ordered, then added the tax and tip. Everyone came with cash, and when the money was counted, we were exactly where we needed to be if only one person had taken care of the bill. I see this as simply the adult way of handling what so many seem to end up making an unnecessarily complicated situation. Last night I had a table of eight women who did just as you did. And I am considering them for beatification.

Well, one reason is that the kitchen coordinates the orders to come together. Separate chits to the kitchen eat up the rail, infuriate the kitchen, and confuse the shit out of the foodrunners.

Another server had this situation the other night: eight women, eight separate checks. I've noticed this frequently with tables of women over the past seventeen years. What is the deal?

My mom was the best training for working with an anal retentive perfectionist who is short on praise. Nothing is ever good enough or clean enough. She was perfect. She has since discovered the evils of low fat cooking and insists that mashed potatoes made with margarine are "just as good" as those made with butter.

Yes, exactly! People who proclaim a preference for higher levels of quality and a disdain for lower levels of quality are constantly being labeled "elitist" -- as if that were a bad thing in this context! So... some people feel that the food at Cheesecake Factory or Bennigan's or Olive Garden is below the level of quality which they prefer. So what? This means that they have a strong preference for higher quality, more inventive, more interesting, better executed cooking. How can this be bad? Where I think the problem comes in is when people who enjoy Cheesecake Factory or Bennigan's or Olive Garden feel as though they are judged by the people who do not and somehow deemed "lower." That gets the defenses up and the next thing you know the foodie is being accused of "elitism" or "only liking that stuff because they think it impresses people" or "looking down at the people who like Bennigan's." And, really, it's not about that. While on the subject, I would like to add that I don't think people here have an automatic dislike of chain restaurants or "middle brow" and "low brow" cooking. I think it is more a matter of execution. Fundamentaly, if Olive Garden made a really well-executed dish of pasta -- perfectly al dente; not oversauced; fresh, vibrant and distinct ingredients -- I think most people would not turn away from it. But, the fact of the matter is that places like Cheesecake Factory and Bennigan's and Olive Garden and TGI Friday's and Chili's and Applebee's and Romano's Macaroni Grill and Outback Steakhouse, et al. make their money selling to people who do not have very refined or adventurous palates and aren't really interested in a pasta dish such as I have described. Hence, their pasta tends to be mushy and oversauced with cheap ingredients and muddled flavors. This approach is further reinforced by the economics of chain restaurants. Now, I have never been to a Cheesecake Factory, and they may very well be a cut above Applebee's and their ilk. But I have a hard time believing that they can deliver the same quality of food at the same price as a good one-off family-owned little restaurant. At the same time, I understand that plenty of people in this country don't have easy access to a good one-off family-owned little restaurant, and that the TGI Bennigan's Outback Olive Grill may be the best game in town. So, why shouldn't they like it? But, if someone like me who lives in NYC and never needs to set foot in a chain restaurant decides he doesn't care for that food, does that make him a culinary snob? I don't see why. And the fact of the matter is that some people are going to dislike things that other people like. It's the way of the world.

I happen to think that the food is mediocre as well, but you missed my point. I think many people here would view CF differently if it was a single restaurant rather than a chain.

So...that means they are still difficult to find and expensive? You're right about the mentality; I have it and avoid chains for independents as much as possible.

It doesn't taste good: it has one big overriding flavor for every menu item. The consistency is mushy. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it. Thinking about eating or working at an Olive Garden brings out my autism: I am about to start grunting and rocking back and forth violently. That is what I don't like about the Olive Garden. Oh, the service sucks, too.

the problem, as i see it, is that when people attack a place or a style of food or wine or beer, in some sort of effort to prove how "right" or sophisticated they are, they are, by extension, putting down those who make those choices to eat at such places or drink those wines or whatever it is. i'm not sure if people mean to do that, but it seems clear that this happens over and over again. threads on things like fast food, chain restaurants, white zin, etc, have a history of being long and not very pleasant. It could also be that due to the fact that chains keep popping up, people are more excited when one comes to their area, and choose a chain over locally owned restaurants. It could be that many egulleters have eaten or worked in chain restaurants ( I have) and hate the corporate environment of these places, which is often reflected in the flavor of the food itself due to the contractual agreement to use Company X's brand of breading crumbs or Company X's cleaning products. Have you ever noticed that "corporate flavor" in chain restaurant food? These are a couple of examples of why I dislike chain restaurants. It's not a high horse, it's experience. When I am invited out and it is a family gathering, I go, I eat what I think will be the best, am usually disappointed, and deal with it. When I am paying, I will always opt for something locally owned and usually small. If someone is trying to prove how right or sophisticated they are, or feel that others are trying to prove how right or sophisticated they are, then I guess we can agree that there are a lot of inferiority complexes abound.

Very true...those damn lazy day people....

I think the real issue is: why do food writers make more than cooks?

Please remember to factor in that servers paychecks are usually $.00, tip outs can be as high as 40%, the hefty income tax each year...Then discuss how much everyone makes. And without waitstaff, you're at a cafeteria.

Thank you for detailing every reason I would never go to a CF. When the "basketball music" started, I'd be lining up these tools in my crosshairs.

The Sea Hag in Depoe Bay was good & had lots of excellent photography to look at.

What a timely post. For my final in a speech class, we had to persuade potential honeymooners to go to Maui and why. Sarrento's on the Beach has continually received great write ups. I found a lot of info by googling Maui and Hawaiian cuisine. The HRC was founded to promote the different cultural influences that contribute to Hawaiian cuisine: the Portugese for the Hawaiian bread, the Australians for the Macadamia nut, the Philopinos, the Chinese, the Japanese, the Koreans, etc....Roy Yamaguchi's restaurants have received high acclaim as well. In addition to Spam, poke is an omnipresent item. I encourage you to Google it, as it would take me forever to provide the laundry list of choices. Beware of falling coconuts. Have fun!

At the Asian market, I came across a package of Jew's ear fungus. I couldn't determine what it was by sight or by the packaging. It looked like seaweed and it is kept in the refrigerated section? Can someone help me out? The owners were very busy and I had inquired on a couple of items already, plus there is a communication barrier. Thanks