jsmeeker

I was back in Ohio last weekend and went back to Lola for dinner on Friday my first night there in Cleveland. No pictures this time, but I had the braised bacon appetizer, the hangar steak, and the peach "melba" We also ordered some beef cheek perogies for the table. Can't recall exactly what everyone else had, but I know one friend had a pork chop and the 6 AM Special (pork in every course!!). I want to say one of the other mains ordered was salmon. Anyway, it was all good. I really liked the braised bacon. I am curious as to how it's made. I want to get my hands on a slab of bacon so I can try to make it. Only issue I had was that I thought my steak was a bit more rare than I wanted (asked for medium rare, and it seemed closer to what I would call rare)

Right now, a Bennett Cocktail is hitting the spot. Beefeater Gin, Lime juice, simple, and some angostura bitters.

Another vote for a negroni I don't even need to cut and squeeze fruit. Or even have fruit.

Seafood: Bartalotta Ristorante de Mare at Wynn Steak: Tons of choice. Lots of people are liking Cut at Palazzo. If you want a really AGED steak, I can sugggest Carnevino in Palazzo Other: L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon at the MGM Grand

I did see a preview episode, though. Wasn't really feeling the need to keep watching. I suppose I should be giving this show a chance by watching it since it's about a Dallas chef and restaurant. FWIW, I have not been to Central 214.

If you are going to submit a restaurant in a hotel at DFW, what about the restaurant in the new Grand Hyatt at Terminal D? Still not inside security, but it's actually part of the terminal. From the photos, it seems like they have a fairly interesting setup for solo diners.

I've dined at several different steakhouses in Las Vegas over the past few years and will give you my suggestions. Demonico's Steakhouse (Venetian). Very solid. If you go, get some of the truffle potato chips to munch on while mulling over the menu. Morel's (Palazzo). Has a French vibe to it. Good steaks. If you like cheese, this is a place to check out. I recall the cocktail menu being pretty good too. Carnevino (Palazzo). Mario does steaks. And does them well. Want REALLY aged meat? This is the place to get it. Great house made charcuterie, too.

The only true food related app I have is a grocery shopping list app called GroceryIQ. I think it's pretty good. They have made some improvements in it recently to support multiple stores (so you can tell it what you like to buy where, plus be able to arrange the order of the items based on the physical layout of each store) I'm not really sure if OpenTable app counts. I guess it is about food cause it's used to make restaurant reservations. I'll need to check out some of these calculator type apps. Thanks for suggesting them.

This show has finally premiered here in Dallas. I think the station here is a few weeks behind for whatever reason, but episode one aired yesterday afternoon. I didn't realize it was coming on, so my TiVo wasn't setup to record it. I managed to catch the last 7 or 8 minutes of the show where he cooked a pork loin with a mushroom sauce. Based on the wesbsite, this show seems to be part food travel show, part cooking show. I'm looking forward to seeing a full episode next time.

My cleaning technique is similar. I dry it by curling it up so it can stand on it's edge in my dish drying rack. It basically works OK. I too would like to hear of different techniques.

When I was in high school, I worked at a burger joint at the fry station. We had onion rings on the menu. The onions were sliced thinly (I didn't do this myself. It was either done in the morning or they actually came that way from the produce purveyor). They were soaked in a 50/50 mix of butter milk and flour. This is where they stayed until an order came in. At that time, I would grab a bunch with tongs, drop them into a large tub of flour (like one of those plastic bussing pans), then scoop them up with a small basket and toss them around, then shake off the excess flour. Then they would go into the fryer (with the fryer basked already lowered into the oil). They didn't take long to cook. To make them work well, you had to ensure they didn't clump up. The best way to too that was to scatter the wet onions all over the flour and make sure they were tossed around well to keep them separated. Taking a bit of time to let excess buttermilk/water mix drip off back into the holding tank also helped. Because of all of this, I really grew to like this style of onion rings. I've never made them at home, though. I really should.

I am mostly a bowl prepper. I don't always make good use of "slack time" in cooking as I could, so I'm not a very good "prep as you go cook". If you were to watch me cook, you would see me spending a lot of time standing around doing nothing, waiting to reach for that next bowl from my mise en place.

I only brew western style, so I find making tea much simpler than making coffee. The quality tea leaves are ready to brew as is, the way you buy them at the store. Coffee isn't like that. To get the best quality, you need to start with whole beans, which means you need to grind them first. And the beans need to be freshly roasted. You either need a good supplier or you do it your self. Grinding and roasting isn't a step I need to worry about to make tea.

I think it is more about Food Network needing/wanting yet another food competition show.

I'm surprised there was no comment about those pommes souffle from any one at the table. Maybe it just didn't make the final edit? I haven't yet had a chance to read the blogs. I was actually wondering how they got all of those chefs there at the same time. Now I know. Thanks for sharing some "scoop" with us, David.

Technically, it's still summer. I just used up the last of my Republic of Tea Ginger Peach Tea that I was using to make iced tea. I actually DO like certain "fruity" teas, so suggest some more to me. FWIW, I do have hibiscus (jamaica) flowers and do make a "tea" from that. It's great. Love it. Had not thought of mixing it with black tea. If iced tea + lemonade is an Arnold Palmer, what do you call black tea + hibiscus tea?

I like what they were able to turn out from the kitchen at Nellis AFB. At first, they made you think it was nothing but canned and boxed stuff.. But there was clearly plenty of proteins available and even some veggies. I continue to be impressed with the overall talent in this years pool of contestants. Looking forward to next week. Ought to be great.

awesome! I have all of that on hand in my liquor cabinet/fridge. Maybe once people post their list, they can begin to start listing drinks that can be made from them with using only a few additional items (lemons, limes, etc.)

I am thinking of maybe doing something on Friday, in addition to something on Saturday for breakfast. I bought a whole chicken this weekend. But I already cut it up because I needed the breasts boneless and skinless to make Chiken Milanese. Thumbing through the poultry section, I see some recipes that call for cut up chicken instead of whole. Julia has them classified into "sautéed chicken" and "chicken fricassee". I've done pan sautéed and roasted chicken myself many times, so I think I am leaning to a "fricassee".

I have not seen these, Richard. Are they making them in house in the Dallas store? Are there other types of veggies available?

Maybe a boned out duck stuffed with something? I know there are recipes for something like that in volume 1 of "Mastering". Or, if the pate rotue sounds good, do one were you wrap it up in pastry dough.

I went to fetch the Julia and Jacques book today, but couldn't find it at my parent's house. But I DID find a copy of 'Mastering' Volume 1. So, I'll make something from there.

On Strip or Off Strip? Are you looking for something reall nice, or is a very casual ethnic place OK? As you have found, most of the nice strip places tend to be dinner only. But there are some exceptions. On the weekend, Bouchon is open for Brunch. The menu is a bit different than the breakfast menu. A few things are missing, but it adds lunch type things like roast chicken, steak frites, etc. L'Atelier is a good pick for a dinner if you can only really do one and have never been there.

I'm in too. I don't personally own any of her books. But I know my Dad has a copy of Julia and Jacques: Cooking together (which is being re-aired on my local PBS station now). Does cooking something from there count? I would have to do something for breakfast or lunch since I'll be out that night (I could do a dessert and eat it when I get home )

for rum, should you qualify it? White? Gold? Dark? If you are going to hav ONE, which would it be?