jsmeeker

I enjoyed the NO show. When I saw a flash of Emeril and his staff at the beginning, I wondered if that would be all that we would see of him, or would there be more. Well, we got more. And it was nice to see.

Just noticed this today while looking at the iTunes Store. Cook's Illustrated has a video podcast now. Seems to have started at the end of December. 4 episodes are out now. http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore...st?id=270805564 (this link will open up the page within iTunes)

I am a big fan of the KISS philosophy throughout life. Most of the cocktails I make use only a few components, even when you DO count the bitters. (eg. Manhattan )

yeah... Well, it HAS increased my quantity at home, but to answer your actual question, it's changed WHAT I drink at home. I going through drink books and making stuff I have never had before. I'm getting ideas from this forum. I'm even sticking termometers in my drinks and taking pictures of it to post on the Internet. My local liquor store has become one of my most favorite shopping destinations. When I go out, I am FAR more aware of what good and proper drink making is. If someone shakes my Manhattan, I sigh. If they don't put bitters in it, I am saddened. But if they put in the bitters without prompting, and they stir it, I am happy. If a bar uses a single, very large ice cube for certain drinks, I get excited (this happened this past week). When you see them squeeze actual fruit before your eyes, I'm pleased. It's really tough for me to drink out now. So many places don't do it right. What do I order? Do I get something that I know find boring and lame, yet sage (like a vodka tonic or Jack and Coke) or do I just get a beer. Or maybe, do I throw caution to the wind and order a Manhattan to see what I get. As far as tastes, I qucikly started to dislike the sweet cocktails I used to think were pretty fancy. (yeah, yeah. All those <somethin>tinis ) Now, I get intrigued by "funky" stuff.. Cocktails with maraschino liquer in them Or chartruesses. Or both! I like to see a cocktail menu that has drinks with gin, whiskey, and rum. And not much vodka. In essense, I have become a cocktail/bar snob. And I like who I am.

I have a recipe from Cook's Illustrated that works really well. They get rave reviews when I bake them for my friends. It uses melted unsweetened chocolate. And cake flour, too. They really seem to strike a good balance between brownies that are like a slab of fudge and brownies that are like a piece of cake. But I'd like to experiment with brownies made with cocoa powder, especially recipes formulated to use dutched cocoa. I have a good amount of it on hand.

thanks for the tip on the CIA student diary podcast. I've downloaded some of them to watch a little bit later today.

Here is my list in no particular order (it's Vegas heavy, too) Taddich Grill, San Francisco, CA. Went there after doing a night tour of Alcatraz. It really hit the spot. Perfectly made Manhattan while waiting. This place is "old school" and it's great. two meals at Abacus, Dallas, TX. The first, I booked the chef's table for a group of out of town friends so we could have their tasting menu. It was great. Everyone enjoyed it. The second was later in the year, this time with a bunch of locals (and one out of towner who went to the first one). This time, I didn't request the chef's table since I thought it would be nice to let people pick and choose off the menu. Well, they seated us at the chef's table anyway. We were there all night for a wonderful, leisurely meal. This was AFTER chef Tre Wilcox got "famous" on "Top Chef". Some people in the party were big fans, and when he stopped by to say hello, they really enjoyed that. Lola, Cleveland, OH -- Great meal. Michael Symon deserves his Iron Chef status. And if it were not for Michael Ruhlman, I don't think I would have ever experienced it. Also, while it's not a meal, I have to give an Honorable Mention to the Velvet Tango Room in Cleveland for "Best Bar Visit of 2007". (and again, Ruhlman gets credit for this tip off) Bouchon, Wing Lei, L'Atelier de Joel Rubochon, all in Las Vegas, NV. Good meals with good friends in a city we just love to hang out in. (two visits in 2007) Context IS important. Also, it doesn't have to be at a fancy, pricey place (even though most of the places on my list fall into that category)

I just got back from dinner at Fearing's. My companion and I had an early reservation (6:15). It's all we could get for a Friday night when booking on Tuesday afternoon. I had yet to go to the new Ritz-Carlton, so I was looking forward to just checking out the place. Warmly greeted by people opening the doors. Nice lobby. Guy there playing guitar. a chef was there next to him making fresh guacamole (I suppose just as a little treat for the guests). Walk through one of the bars to get to the restaurant. It's just past 6:00 PM, so the place isn't yet packed, but a nice crowd is developing. It's a very nice, large bar/lounge area. Through a door, the outside bar is under a large, clear plastic tent. It's winter in Dallas, but with some heaters, you can keep a place like that nice and comfortable. Looked nice. We let the hostess know we were ready. We were lead to the "main" room. I think they call it Fearing's Kitchen. ( I think that is what Addison called it in his review). We walked past what is the "formal" room, where most (but oddly, not all) of the tables had white linen table cloths. The main room had booth and tables. All nice wood. Placemats. No linen here. The open kitchen is in this area, and this is where the action seems to be. This is a very nice room. People in suits. People in business casual. People in jeans. Very comfortable. We sat in a "booth" (really, nicely padded benches with a table. They are actually moveable if needed, it seems. I saw them re-arrange one in such a way to accommodate an extra chair on the end). Waiter uniforms really don't look like uniforms. They are very nice. Runners have more of a uniform look. Service here is really good. An example: Even something as simple as iced tea is done up right. a LARGE glass, full of ice is brought to the table, along with a silver (really, I'm sure it's polished stainless steel) with a good sized carafe of tea, along with lemons and limes, the artificial sweetener selection, and a tiny pitcher of simple syrup. This is a great touch, IMHO. This IS Texas, after all, and we like our iced tea. Great to see it served in a LARGE glass, that consumes about half of the carafe. At about the halfway point during the meal, a runner removes the pitcher (still half full), and returns moments later with a new, full pitcher. I guess what was there went "stale" Details like this are great. (I had a Manhattan. Brought out by a runner in a small shaker. poured into the glass at the table. Pretty common. But this was a good Manhattan) Onto food. An amuse of pheasant confit (IIRC) on some sort of puree (apple, I think) was presented. It was OK. The meat seemed a tad dry to me. For a starter, I had the barbecued oysters. (Barbecued Bluepoint Oysters with Creamed Spinach, Artichokes, Applewood Bacon and Gulf Crab ). The oysters themselves had been removed from the shells, deep fried, then placed back onto of the spinach, artichoke, bacon, crab mixture. The barbecue was in the form of a sauce that was smeared on the plate above each oyster. (three in total). The oysters were perfectly deep fried. Crisp on the outside, but very lightly cooked on the inside. The spinach, artichoke, bacon, crab mixture was OK. My friend had the Tortilla Soup. Now, I never dined at the Mansion, so I've never had Dean's famous soup before. But this was pretty good, and my friend really liked it. I had debated getting the Foie Gras.. If I had read Worzel's review prior to going, I probably would have order it instead of the oysters. I loves me some foie gras. For the mains, it was fish.. I had the Soy Glazed Black Cod with Hijiki Jasmine Rice, Carrot/Diakon Threads, Tempura Herbs and Miso Clam Broth. My friend ordered a salmon dish. Now, she likes her fish well done (yeah yeah), so it was tough for me to really judge it well. But it was OK. Obviously cooked more than I would like fish to be cooked. My cod, on the other hand, was great. Very nice. Lots of components in this one, but I thought it worked out really well. Dessert was a home run. Started out with a nice dessert amuse of a mini Dr. Pepper float. (yeah baby, you know you are in Texas!!) We ordered THREE desserts. I just could not resist. Banana cream pie, a caramel custard with apple fritters, and a duo of chocolate. Chocolate semi-freddo plus a warm brownie. The apple fritters were incredible. Best thing on the table at the time. One of the agreed with us. It was his favorite as well. The banana cream pie was pretty good, but the filling seemed a tad soft to me. The meringue topping was really good, though. My chocolate duo satisfied my chocolate cravings. Pretty good.. But "chocolate semi-freddo" just seems like a fancy way to say "chocolate ice cream". After we polished off those fantastic fritters, I picked up the glass that held the caramel custard and started to just dig in and pig out. My friend wondered how it is that I wasn't as big as a house. There was a glass of wine for each of us in there, plus I had coffee with dessert. What a great meal. Really, I can't find a single mis-step with it. The worst part of the evening was getting in and out of the place. They really need more valets to handle the cars. (that, and the entry driveway is much to small for a place that is going to get a lot of locals hitting the bar/restaurant)

so.. I just tried my "two shakes" method I thought of a few posts up. Made a Pegu Club. Got it down to 20 degrees in the cocktail glass. Honestly, it seems a tad too cold at that temp. The flavors seem a bit muted...

I'm glad you were impressed with the Las Vegas crew. I love that town, and I am very excited about the dining scene going on out there. I've dined at Michael Mina and Picasso at Bellagio. I've also had dined at Fix and have sampled what Jean Phillipe Patisserie has to offer. They really run a great operation there at that hotel. And they aren't the only ones doing it.

Trying to recall a bar... Really, I am not sure. In either case, I don't think they will have any issues accomodating a solo diner. As far as the buffet, all reports I read say don't do the buffet. It's standard chineese buffet. It's small, too. Really, the normal menu is where the action is, especially the separate Northern Thai menu.

for the original poster.. A few months ago, I played bartender for a bunch of friends in an attempt to get people to drink something different than a bottle of beer, a Jack and Coke, or a Jell-O shot. I had the most success with the Sidecar. It's pretty approachable, it seems, for people new to good cocktails. FWIW, I used E&J VSOP brandy. Widely available at a price that won't bust the budget. I made all them to order as needed, but if I were to batch them, I too would go with the mix in advance and then shake to order. Seeing a drink shaken seems more "right" than having it simpy poured into a glass from a pitcher like one would pour a child a glass of apple juice.

Go for it! Meanwhile, I'm just trying to stick a thermometer into drinks as I prepare them. Tonight, a Bennett Cocktail, which, shaken for about 20 seconds, reached a fine drinking temperature. I measured: again, 25F. I'm not making the case for perfection here. But there's gotta be some reasons for why these drinks all seem to be in the mid-20s. Below freezing but above tongue-numb. ← That's what my first set of pictures was about. Just trying to get a baseline for how cold my drinks were (a stirred one and a shaken one). Now, the next step is to try to make them COLDER. I could use your technique of sticking it in the freezer after preparing it. I have also had the idea of a second shake with fresh ice. Strain out the drink to one half of the shaker. toss the ice. add more. Shake again. Do people think different drinks are better served at different temps? Cold tends to dull the tastebuds. But cold can also be refreshing... More experimenting is in order. Chris... what did you think of the Bennet Cocktail? I made one for the first time last weekend looking to use up some limes by making something I had not had before.

A bit of a discussion about it right here on eGullet foums as well http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=111355

wow... fried butter!.. I wonder how good it would be if you wrapped in bacon before breading it.

It's pretty. (and really, the idea of a garbage bowl is a good one) I say cash in when you can. She used to use a Wustof sankutu. Tons of people wanted to know what kind of knife it was. People rushed out to buy them. Then, she switched and got a deal with another company for knives, cookware, etc. I'm sure she made a pretty penny as people dumped their perfectly capabale Wustof's to get the new Racheal knife. Of course, she wasn't the first to hawk stuff, and won't be the last. Anyway, getting back on topic, what's the latest with this show?

I'll be sure to check my TiVo when I get back home from my Los Angeles trip. Would be nice to have a new epsiode of NR waiting for me.

this is airing again in Dallas on KERA. But the episode aired this past Saturday is a re-run. I guess a warm up to new episodes that will be coming next weekend? (I think I have seen all of the previous season. My TiVo season pass is still active)

I was looking for a new to me cocktail that I could make with lime juice (I have some fresh limes in the fridge that I want to use up). So, I opened up my copy Joy of Mixology and found the Bennett Cocktail. 2 ounces gin 1 ounce fresh lime juice 1/2 ounce simple syrup dash Angostura. combine and shake with ice. Strain into cocktail glass. This is really nice. It looks like a Pegu Club, but isn't quite the same since it lacks the orange notes from triple sec and the orange bitters. The gin notes came through nicely. I mean, you can tell it's gin (FWIW, I used Beefeater). If I would change anything, it would be the amount of simple syrup. The stuff I made was 2:1. I think "Joy" expects 1:1 simple syrup. I could simple cut back on the amount on the next one. Anyway, this one is a winner in my book. It goes into my rotation.

My Season Pass is picking up the Berlin episode on 1/14. It shows an original air date of 1/14/2008. So, that is a new show for sure. When was the last time your TiVo got guide data?

hmm.. Noted.. I did temp my negroni that way after pouring it into the glass. That's how I got the slightly cooler 28 degrees. But I didn't post it because the pic looked "ugly" with my hand in the way, holding the thermometer.

I have been fond of the stuff I have from a local restaurant supply store. Brand I have is Lincoln Wear-Ever.

For my stirred cocktail, I whipped up a Negroni 1.5 ounces gin 1.5 ounces sweet vermouth 1.5 ounces Campari. I measured the ingredients one by one into a room temperature mixing glass filled about half way with plain, normal ice from the ice maker in my freezer. I stirred it for maybe 30 seconds, I would guess. Really, kind of what felt right. Like I typically do. Here is the temp, taken right after I finished stirring. (I let the thermometer sit for about 15 seconds before snapping the pic The drink "cooked" some more as I dug around for my strainer and pulled out a cocktail glass from the fridge. By the time I poured it, it dropped down to 28 degrees. This temp seems about right to me. But I have no idea if it's "ideal". I used up the last of the vermouth making this, so I can't make a second round that's colder. Next up, a shaken cocktail. Gotta think what to make. (need to use up some limes I have) Time for the shaken coctkail A Pegu Club .5 ounces lime juice 1 ounce Cointreau 1.5 ounces gin dash of Angostura bitters dash of Fee's Orange bitters. All ingredients into mixing glass with ice. Cap with the metal half of the Boston shaker. Shake until my hands got really cold. 20 -25 seconds, I suppose. I poured it back into the glass to make it easier to read an photograph the thermometer. Colder than the Negroni. And this seem to be a good temp for this drink. At least, it seems right to me.

I have a digital instant read thermometer. (not a fancy thermopen, but it's like a dial type. but digital) And plenty of booze and some fresh limes and an ice maker that keeps the ice bin in the freezer full. and a digital camera. THIS is some science I can get behind.

Why aren't more restaurants investing in training their bartenders and developing good cocktail programs? Certainly the talent can be hired on a consulting basis. Does that not work long-term because the training and ongoing development don't continue? I think the demand on the customer side is there too. ← I wonder this too. Of course, it's not limited to New York. I don't know if every city can support a true "cocktilian" bar scene, but you would think that if there was a place to start in most cities, it would be in top restaurants . Aferall, it's pretty normal to see chefs and kitchens care about all the ingredients going into the dishes that are sent out. They aren't using a lot of commerically prepared stuff. But the bar? Commerical mixes and what not are very standard almost every place. Some chefs get serious about wine. It would be nice to see more get serious about cocktails.