jsmeeker

Just picked up a second bottle (2 liter) of KPF Coca-Cola earlier this week. Bought a bottle about two weeks ago and drank it in two days. (can't let it get flat!!). For this second bottle, I made a Cuba Libre with it. KFP Coca-Cola, Gossling's Black Seal, lime juice. Super tasty.

I think the word you are looking for here is "comal" One thing I find interesting is that the person forming the tortillas doesn't seem to make any effort to make a nice, round ball of masa. Yet when they get pressed out, they seem pretty round.

Seems like an "Evening with Kevin Smith" sort of thing to me. If you are a fan of Bourdain, for whatever reasons, (his cooking, books, TV, etc.) I think you would enjoy an event like this. Maybe not enough to PAY for it, but I think you would enjoy listening to him tell some stories and what not. I know I would. If you don't like Tony, that's cool too. Not everybody does.

I saw some sort of preview for this last week, then forgot to set the TiVo to record the series. I need to see if it will re-air on ABC. Otherwise, I'll get it on line from ABC or Hulu or iTunes or something like that. The issue is certainly an important one. And I think no matter where he went, locals might have viewed the whole thing with skepticism. I hope this isn't done like "Kitchen Nightmares". That wouldn't be really fair. If it was, then they would be right. It would be all for pure "shock" and entertainment value. I'll try to get around to watching this soon and set the TiVo so I can keep watching it.

They have an 1/8th sized pan, too!

Since my trip to Off the Bone and Longoria's, I've made trips to two more of the D Magazine top five places in the DFW area. I hit # 5, Meshack BBQ in Garland, a few weekends ago. This place really is a shack. You place your order through a window and that's where you get it. No place to eat there at all. I ordered some brisket, ribs, and a sausage. Took the order all packed in a bag and drove home. This place is closer to me than any of the other places in the top 5. But its still a long way for take out food. However, it wasn't too bad. The BBQ was just "ok" overall. Everything I ordered was sauced for me. I didn't know they were going to do this. No real standouts here. Certainly, it's better than Dickie's or Spring Creek or whatever sort of place that I can get to easily in suburban far north Dallas. But I am not sure if it's really worth a repeat visit. Last week, I drove down to Red Oak to try out Randy's, the number 2 spot. They served meat by the pound, on butcher paper, but also had specials. That day, it was 1/4 lb meat plus a side plus a drink. So, I got that (brisket for the meat), plus added in three ribs to my order. The setup was the common cafeteria style. get the meat. Serve yourself sides. Ask for drink, pay, and take food to your seat. Friendly service. I'm surprised the place wasn't busier. A small marquee under their sign proclaimed it's selection as the number 2 joint by "D". How was the "Q"? The brisket was great. Out of the 4 places I've tried, i was the best in my opinion. Good smoke flavor. Moist and juicy. That made it worth the drive down. The ribs were disappointing. They looked great. Big ribs. Nice smoke ring. Good smoke smell. Good flavor. But they were chewy. Not nearly tender enough. It also seemed like they had been tossed on a hot grill at some point. Maybe after being smoked? I could see clear cross hatch grill marks on them. This also made the outer part even tougher. Really, it was too bad. I think they just needed more time to get the right tenderness. Still, it was worth the trip for the brisket alone. I would go back here to get more brisket and would give the ribs another shot. Maybe it was an off day for them when I was there. This leaves me with one top five place to visit. That would be #4, Smokies in Ft. Worth. I'll eventually get there. When I do, I think I'll work in Angelo's into the trip west.

Charlie Trotter's place at Palazzo (Restaurant Charlie and Bar Charlie) has closed. Last service was on Thursday night.

Gin for sure. Typically, it's been Plymouth. But the price on that has shot up a lot recently here in Dallas. It's now as much as Tanq. 10 and Bombay Sapphire. After that, it's some sort of whiskey. Be it bourbon or rye.

I'll echo the suggestions for restaurant supply stores as your source for good sheet pans. I'll also second Dave's recommendation on picking up quarter sheet pans. They are very useful for all sorts of things.

I find it interesting that there are so many chefs returning from season 1. Did they have a hard time finding enough new chefs to fill out the field, or did some of the chefs from season 1 that got knocked out early really want to come back for some sort of redemption?

I too would suggest finding a way to get to Lockhart if you want BBQ.

If you did want steak, I would say walk a bit further, past Delmonico and into Palazzo. And then onto Carnevino. Outside of steak? I can reccommend Enoteca San Marco. It's in the shops above the casino level at Venetian.

Earlier this afternoon, fellow eGullet member and host Richard Kilgore and I headed west from the Dallas area to scope out some of the top spots in D Magazine's 'Best BBQ in Dallas (That's Not Really in Dallas)' story. We decided if we wanted to hit top spots. The #1 spot 'Off The Bone' was an obvious place to visit. But we wanted to do more than one place. It's not like a run to Lockhart, but it's still a good drive for lunch. Looking at the handy map I made, I saw that the #3 spot, Longoria's, was just a couple of miles away from Off The Bone. So, that was the plan. Hit the #1 spot and #3 spot Off The Bone (Rated #1) We arrived at Off The Bone about 10 minutes before 1:00 PM. Lots of cars in the parking lot and most of the dinning area was full. But there was no line to place an order. Since we were hitting two spots today, we spilt a two meat plate. In addition to that, we also ordered some fried okra. We took a seat and waited for our order. We must have arrived just before a big rush of people because it took a while to get our food. But that was OK because the ribs were fantastic. Very good smoke flavor. Tender, but not sliding off the bone over cooked tender. Brisket was ok. Again, good some flavor. Tender enough. But a little dry. We didn't specify where we wanted the brisket cut from. Still, it was tastier than anything I have had that wasn't in Central Texas. The ribs alone were worth the drive. This place is the real deal. Oh yeah. The sides. Fried okra was good. Pinto beans were pretty good, too. Longoria's (rated #3) After snapping some pics of the smoker at Off The Bone, we hopped back in the car to head to the #3 spot on D Magazine's list. After some initial troubles, I finally managed to get the address into my GPS. This place wasn't far away, but it's really in an out of the way location. Even though it has a Ft. Worth address, this place is in the town of Everman. It was about 2:00 PM when we pulled up to the building. Only a few people inside. No line. The owner was working the front counter. He asked us if we had been here before. We told him no and he went on his spiel about the place. Mentioned the house made sausage (which I had read about in the D Magazine story and was looking forward to trying). In short order, one of the young workers brought out small samples for us to try. It was clear right off the bat we were going to be happy. Since this place does in house sausage, we ordered a three meat plate to split. We paid and sat down in an adjacent dining area. Two plates quickly arrived. They did a nice job of splitting up the order for us. We dug into the meat. Ribs had a good, peppery, slightly sweet rub on the outside. I liked this. But the smoke flavor wasn't as pronounced. And they could have been a bit more tender. Still, pretty good. Brisket was OK. A bit dry. The sausage, on the other hand, was the shining star here. Really good. Made with ground up brisket. It had good texture. Not too coarse, not too fine. Just right. Juicy, but not dripping with fat. If you like the sausage Central Texas BBQ is known for, you ought to be happy with what Longoria's offers. Sides? Eh.. Not so good. I didn't care of the oil and vinegar slaw and the potato salad was very mayonnaise heavy. So, what's the overall verdict? Head west from Dallas. The #1 and #3 spots are certainly worth the trip.

Nosiest restaurant I have ever been in is the N9NE steakhouse at the Palms Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. It's crazy loud. Think of a night club that serves steaks. But that's the crowd The Palms wants. The younger crowd that likes the nightlife/club scene. How were the steaks? They were really good. So, if you like nightclubs and loud music and a party scene and want a steak to go with it, go to N9NE.

I don't think L'Atelier shares a kitchen with the formal place next door. The L'Atelier kitchen is open to the restaurant and almost all of the seating faces it in a long bar that wraps around the kitchen. Maybe there are some shared spaces for prep and what not, but the dishes being prepared in the L'Atelier kitchen are going to people seated there, and I am pretty sure nothing cooked there is delivered to tables nextdoor. I think L'Atelier is one of the great deals in Las Vegas to get creative food executed at a very high level in a easy going environment. I really recommend it, stars or no stars. I think I went the first time before Michelin was even rating Las Vegas restaurants.

Shelby, Are you staying at M? I visited M back in December, but I wasn't staying there. Just went down there to check it out on a Thursday afternoon. As is typical in Las Vegas resorts, not much is open at lunch. When we were there, just the buffet, the coffee shop, and I guess the deli counter at the sports book. I actually didn't eat at all there since I had a late breakfast at MGM Grand. The M is a really nice place, though. They seemed to have a good number of places to drink, too. Of course, on a Thursday afternoon, they were pretty much all close. But the beer bar (32 Degree Draft) was open. That's a good place if you like beer. ScoopKW, The Bellagio was running a special Sunday Brunch at Jasmine (a Chinese restaurant that is typically only open for dinner). It was pretty high end, kind of like the Sterling Brunch across the street at Bally's. Wasn't quite as expensive as I recall. However, it looks like it's coming to an end soon, being replaced with Dim Sum.

Fair enough. I'll just say that I enjoyed what I drank.

My TiVo picked up an episode of Alton Brown's 'Good Eats' the other day. I looked at the description and low and behold, Alton is taking on cocktails once again. This time, the Bloody Mary and the Margarita. The Bloody Mary is for another topic, so lets look at what Alton has to say about the marvelous cocktail the Margarita is. Boiling it down, Alton says to skip the triple sec/Cointreau. This is a bit interesting. He also calls for agavae nectar. I've actually been using agavae nectar in my margaritas recently when I've wanted a touch more sweetness. You can see the full recipe here http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/margarita-recipe/index.html but I will list the ingredients and amounts here and describe the method myself. 2 ounces 100 percent agave silver/blanco tequila, divided 1 tablespoon kosher salt 4 limes, divided 1/2 small Hamlin or Valencia orange 2 tablespoons light agave nectar 3/4 cup ice cubes, about 3 to 4 OK.. so, the kosher salt is there to rim the glass. So is the "divided use" part of the tequila. He actually uses the tequila to wet the rim of the cocktail glass, then rims it with salt. (his rimming technique is the common dip and dip method, getting salt on the INSIDE of the rim. Maybe one day Alton will learn the right way) Anyway, the rest of it is interesting. (All of this is for a single cocktail) No triple sec. Instead, he calls for oranges. the quarters get muddled up with 2 limes, quartered. That gets strained out along with juice of TWO more limes. (for the limes I use, that would be about 2 ounces of just lime juice). To me, this sounds like a lot of juice for the amount of tequila called for. Add in the agavae nectar. Shake, Strain. Serve up (I am glad he did that and didn't do it on the rocks) When I made this, I tweaked this recipe. I used ONE lime. Cut half. Juiced one half. Gave me about 3/4 ounce juice. I took the second half, and quartered it. Then, cut the orange in half. and half again. used just two pieces of that. Muddled together. Strained that out into the mixing glass. That was about an ounce of juice. So, now I had close about 2 ounce of juice all total in my mixing glass. I added a healthy 3 ounces of tequila (Suaza Hornitos) and about an ounce of agavae nectar. Added ice. Shake. Strain up. Result? This was actually pretty good! I think a bit too sweet for my normal tastes. But would probably be enjoyed by people still weening themselves off of really sweet cocktails. Overall, I think the concept of NOT using a triple sec is good one.

I'm really not familiar with good dining options up in the McKinney area, sorry to say. For BBQ, check out the BBQ in DFW area topic. At the very end, I have added a post that links to a new D Magazine article that names 16 top places in the greater DFW area. I haven't had a chance to try any of the places, except one of them. ( a place I had been to well before the list came out) For Tex-Mex, I still like Mia's and the brisket tacos. They are great. Its not in the McKinney area, but if you are going to venture into Dallas, you should consider it. They are opened for lunch, too.

I haven't been able to find it in the Dallas area. Slightly odd considering DP is a Texas creation and that DP was once headquartered here. Of course, I CAN find the Dublin Dr. Pepper. That's always around and not some limited time special.

Canned peaches. In heavy syrup. Love 'em. I haven't bought them in some time, But I came very close to buying a can at the grocery store today. Add another person to the Little Debbie Army, Fudge Round brigade. I love, love, loved these. I used to buy them regularly. But I stopped. Then, one day, I looked at their end cap display in my local grocery store. What did I see? Fudge Rounds being offered in a JUMBO size! I did buy some But that was a long time ago. I haven't bought any since.

A tip I picked up was to take one of those collapsable steamer baskets, open it up, invert it, and put it on top like a "lid". It works. But I stopped doing it. The thing was a pain to clean. Also, I found that it got in the way of skimming.

D Magazine weighs in on this topic in the February issue. The Best Barbecue in Dallas (That’s Not Really in Dallas) The author lists his 16 favorite spots in the Dallas area. The number one spot is on the southeast side of Ft. Worth! I have plotted out the top 16 places on a Google Map You can view right here.

Ahh.... Cooking the dumplings uncovered at high heat in an oven. That gets the browning Chris A. was looking for. Typically, I've always seen the dumplings cooked in the pot while it's COVERED. And on the stove (essentially, steaming/poaching them).

hmmm OK. I smell it and it smells like oil. But I am not really sure if it's a BAD smell. Sure, it doesn't smell like the stuff in the bottle that hasn't been used for anything, but I am not entirely clear what the standard is here. In the past, I frequently would use cooking oil once. But that gets expensive, especially when you use something like peanut oil.