jsmeeker

A Manhattan, a Martini, or when I have some extra lemons, a Sidecar.

The specific meaure being mentioned in the article is total number of units/stores.

No chance, he did not even get an indian chef! I mean, seriously, indian cooking is pretty different and if they could not be bothered to grab an indian cook for the guy, he's already out and just being kept around to pretend that there is some choice going on. I think there is a choice, but right now its between about 3-4 ideas and the others are just in a line to go home. The wraps lady had to go, she seriously considered dry, flavorless chicken 'a choice of the person ordering'. I don't think I want to go to a place where you have 'bad food' as a choice on the menu. Hicks I was totally rooting for but I think I was confused like the judges. I was thinking small plates like brisket, gumbo, charcuterie, regional cheeses, alaskan smoked salmon bread. I think the competetors were thinking jello salads and crown roast of weiners... It appears the contestants didn't have too much choice in the way of selecting chefs. They were provided with 10 to pick from. None of them had any experience with Indiam cuisine from what I can tell. Hard to place all of the blame on the that contestant. I agree that it was odd for chicken and waffles guy to not make either. At the least, he could have fried up a mess of wings. The "Hicks" concept is one I totally don't understand. I just can't wrap my head around it. And speaking of warps..... It's just a sandwich with a different kind of bread, isn't it? I'm not sad to see that concept go (even if the contestant is a local Dallas person). Wok concept can work, I think. Of course, the whole "make your customer figure out how to combine ingredients" is a general idea that I have mixed feelings about. That can be a whole topic on its own. The taco guy seems to be the only person actively trying to undermine other contestants. How far is he gonna get?

Yeah.. that is the best solution. Bring a completely fresh, new glass of ice tea to the table. I've found that people are very particular about the way beverages are refilled. For many, it seems to be the single most important service element at a restaurant.

Heck.. hard to read, busy fonts in ANY lighting conditions are pet peeve of mine. I really hate it.

I always had a soft spot for Tontino's Party Pizzas. They were fairly cheap, small, and had a crisp, cracker like crust. I haven't had one in years, though.

The guys over at Cooking Issues blog weigh in on nixtamal. http://www.cookingissues.com/2011/03/09/mesoamerican-miracle-megapost-tortillas-and-nixtamalization/ WARNING: It's a long entry. Very extensive. I've only just begun to read it.

Has anyone tried the "Beer Can Chicken"? I don't have the book, but this recipe was mentioned in Michael Ruhlman's NYT review. What caught my eye was the temperature. Said "175". I asked some other member about this, and indeed, it's 175 F. Very interesting. Essentially, 175 for a couple of hours, then up really high to brown the skin. I don't have all the exact details, but it would be interesting to see what experiences other may have. I'm sure I could get enough details here to try it myself without having an actual copy of the book set.

I guess they pre-scoop the ice cream and just keep it on a sheet pan or something in a freezer. Then, when an order comes in, they slice of the pastry and plop on a ball of ice cream fresh from the freezer. Do they do the chocolate sauce table side? I can't recall. I know they bring you some in a container. Really, you would think a Thomas Keller place would do better. Surely there is a way to keep ice cream soft and scoopable but keep it from melting.

HI Aaron. Welcome to the eGullet Society. Thanks for jumping right into one of the hottest topics we have ever seen here.

I've just finished Michael Ruhlman's review of MC. Of course, it's a review of a book I have not even seen. But I've seen and read a lot of talk about it here in the eGullet forums. I think Michaels review isn't so harsh. There is positive. There is negative. Isn't that what one normally sees in a review? Really, a lot of what he said is similar to comments many of us have had. It's all a little (or a lot) overwhelming. Many of us, including myself, question all of the chemicals that read like a label from something on the grocery store shelf. It's not like Ruhlman doesn't know what he's talking about. He has a lot of exposure to food and cooking. Lots of chefs doing some of this modernist cuisine. Beer can chicken. Roasted at 175 F? Really? I dunno if I can even get my oven to maintain a temp that low. Gotta look into that some more.

It was certainly odd they spent time profiling some of the contestants that were to be booted right off the bat. The blonde girl with her soup concept? (I think she had the soup concept) They showed her working her current job and all that stuff. What was the point? Just to set expectations with the viewer so they could be un-done? Anyway, now that we are down to 10, I think things will be much better going forward.

Lucky Layla Farms makes a nice drinkable yogurt. They are a local producer in the Dallas area http://www.luckylayla.com/yogurt.php

Did they show a clip of Emeril appearing on Julia's show LONG before he became a big Food Network star? Heck, I think that appearance may have occurred before Food Network even existed.

Interesting. Thanks for that link.

Thanks for directing us to that article. Regarding the ticket sales to Next. I found one of their reasons for doing it a bit odd. The article said that if they lost one reservation at Alinea, it would really cut into margin for that night. Two reservations? They lose money. But doesn't Alinea have a long wait list? Surely on any given night, they could find someone on that list to fill the open table.

Obviously, a lot of these ideas like a grilled cheese place are ideas already working in a place like NYC. But is that a concept that can go national at a large scale? I think that is what they are *trying* to find. I don't know of any national grilled cheese place. I can't think of any national "meatballs" place either. Some concepts, while older than dirt, seem to have no limit. Just look at burgers in the Dallas area. Already saturated with the major chains, we got Five Guys. Then a local "imitator" called Mooyah started to open up locations. Very recently, Carl's Jr. started to open locations here. In-n-Out is building a commissary here to support multiple new locations in the area. And supposedly, Fatburger is on the way as well. Concepts that are new and different aren't always the same as concepts that actually sell. That said, I hope the winner isn't a burger place.

Oh yeah.. The meatball one. Saucy Balls. That one could be fun to watch.

With all the contestants, it was hard to even get a grasp of all the concepts that made the cut to the final 10. But I recall a few of them off the top of my head Chicken and Waffles. I didn't catch what the third "W" was for (Wings, Waffles and something or other) Grilled Cheese. I think this is interesting. Made him prepare a bunch fast. But he did it in a small panini press. I would think that is not the best way to make a lot in a hurry. Wouldn't a large flat top griddle be better? But I guess that is something that can easily be figured out Tapas BBQ. I dunno how any tapas works in a fast food/fast casual place. Do you order it all at once and get it all and once and take it to your table in eat it? Make multiple trips to the counter to order? What about take out? Really, tapas works well when a server just brings you dish after dish Sports wraps. Eh... I am not into wraps. The calorie focused one. Do you order by number? Like "I want the 500 calorie meal"? Custom Stir Fry. I think this made it through. Seems interesting, but I am conflicted over places that make the customer figure out how to combine ingredients to make a dish.

BBQ in the towns of Lockhart and Luling Texas. It was the first time I had had top tier BBQ. I have lived in Texas a long time. Had lots of BBQ from all of the chain places around Dallas. But my first experience at the Meccas of Central Texas BBQ was a total eye opener on what BBQ was supposed to be. A hamburger made from meat that had been ground a few minutes before it hit the hot cast iron pan. Foie gras

Who is going to watch this show? It premiers tonight on NBC. My TiVo is set. Hosted by Bobby Flay, the show will award a winner a three restaurant chain (Los Angeles, New York City, and Minneapolis) http://www.nbc.com/americas-next-great-restaurant/ Will be interesting to see what concepts people have and if any of them are truly original or unique.

"One Plate at a Time" is fantastic. Not sure when the newest season will air. Currently, the Dallas PBS station is re-running the previous season. Looks gorgeous on my HDTV, too. It's in English with a little bit of Spanish thrown in. Most of that is when Rick does segments while traveling in Mexico.

Yup.. They get WHAT was ordered, but not WHO ordered it. OR they get that, but the runners don't pay attention? I dunno.. It's really annoying. And it's not like the group is playing games by switching seating positions after ordering.

These days, most of the places I go to regularly are via a drive through. But back when I traveled regularly to L.A., I was a regular at a few places. As has been suggested, being recognized or getting perks has A LOT to do with the staff being pretty consistent. In places where the staff was consistent, then it was pretty nice. There was a period when the staff at the Starbucks I would walk to every day would make up my drink for me as they saw me walking down the sidewalk towards the front door. There was a local Italian place that had a nice friendly waitress. Sometimes, we would get some cookies at the end of the meal. I was a regular at a local CPK, too. Always sat at the counter. I went though several different changes of staff. But everyone was alway friendly and nice. The BEST place for being a regular was at the hotel bar. I had a good number of drinks for free.

I HATE this too. Really, really hate it. It gets really bad at large parties. Food starts to arrive. Everyone engaged in conversation at one latge table. Runners don't know where the food goes. People at the table are oblivious to the fact that the food arrive. Runners ask who gets what. They get no response. Eventually, someone in the group decides to join in an yell out "who got the enchiladas?". Then people forget what they ordered. I hate that. This really makes me come to another annoyance. Dining in large groups. Maybe I'll have more on that later.