jsmeeker

Yeah... It was Goody Goody on Inwood where I saw the Fee Brothers. I need to pick up at least some orange bitters and take a stab at a Pegu Club. I had a properly made Manhattan at Taddich Grill in San Francisco back in January. They put in the bitters. And stirred. Nicely done. :up:

I was at my local, favorite liquor store on Friday after work and notice that they added several varieties of Fee Bothers bitters to their inventory, in addition to Angostura and Peychauds. Pretty good selection, it would seem. I guess I should have picked some up. But speaking of bitters... I had a few Manhattans over the past week. One here in Dallas, and a few at various restaurant bars in Las Vegas. It seems it's common to omit the bitters in a Manhattan. What gives??

I've done ground beef in my food processor after seeing it done by Alton Brown a few years ago.. Yes, it's not perfect, but it still makes a big difference in the taste of a burger. You can smell the freshness of it when you dump it out of the workbowl. I do it in very small batches. Maybe 5-6 ounces or so at a time. I have a Kitchen Aid mixer, but have yet to buy the grinder attachment. I gave the FP method a try, and I was pleased enough with the results for burgers that I decided to hold off on the grinder attachment for the KA. I say if you have a food processor and no meat grinder, give it a shot. You have little to lose.

I'll have to catch the next one when I'm not out of town. Sounds like it was great, though. My knowledge of Italian wines is very, very limited ( Been trying to focus on French)

1. mashed potatoes. Quite possibly, my ultimate comfort food. they can take on a lot of butter and milk/cream. Make it a litte rustic hand have some lumps or make them refined and sily smooth. either way, it's got to be my favorite way to prepare a potato. 2. French fries. they are everywhere and seem to come with just about everything on a lot of menus. done right, they are devine. crisp. fluffy. good stuff. 3. Before I opened the thread, I wasn't sure what my number three choice would be. Then I read Steven's mention of the chicken fat drenched potatoes from a rotisserie. I don't have a rotisserie, but I get something similair when I do a roast chicken by spatchcocking the thing, then roasting it on a broiler pan (the one that comes with the oven) with bottom of the pan loaded up with sliced potatoes. So darn good.

so, what is the scoop on how this drink should be served? It seems the Campari website shows it on the rocks. The Wikipedia entry (citing the IBA, if that means anything) also says on the rocks. But many here are serve it up. So, rocks, up? What's the deal? This sounds like a good drink. When I get back home for more than a day, I think I'll by a bottle of Campari and play around with it. In the mean time, if I order one when I am in Las Vegas next week (say, at Bouchon), what do you think I will get? Up? rocks? Some interesting combination of ingredients?

You'll be 21 and in Las Vegas. My advice for you? Play craps. It's a ton of fun.

I think I'll do Lotus of Siam. Many suggest it. Hopefully, I'll be able to get people to not only go with me, but also to NOT eat the buffet.

Cool.. Thanks, Richard.

thanks for the feedback. The Capresso was one of the models I was considering, largely due to cost. I'll also try to track down the Bodum. There used to be an actual Bodum store in Dallas, but it closed. As much as I would like to do espresso, it's just not in the cards right now. I simply don't have the space to keep a real espresso machine. I have a functional question on the burr grinders. Most of them seem to be designed to keep a "large" amount of coffee in a hopper. How does one measure out just the amount you need for the pot size you want to brew? Sometimes I only brew a small amount (like 2 6 ounce cups). Other times, I may brew twice that (still, not a lot of coffee). I'm used to simply measuring out beans into my blade grinder, grinding, then using all of it in the French Press pot. How would this work on a burr grinder? I obviously don't want to grind more than I need.

This thread is 6 months old.... If I just brew French press coffee on the weekends, does it make sense to buy a burr grinder? If so, which one? I really don't want to drop tons of money on something that will take up precious counter space. Currently, I use a Braun blade grinder (sue me.. it's better than buying pre-ground coffee)

you could always buy some latex gloves (or vinyl if you are allergic to latex) and put them on before handling peppers.

right now, a margartia

for me, warm egg salad would mean warm mayo. And I just don't like warm mayo.. But yes, egg salad (for a sandwich) is tasty. I'll cruise through this thread for tips on jazzing up my egg salad.

I know. Don't know why. I just uploaded them, and was able to get one to work in another test post. standby please. Edit: Ok. Fixed now.. Sorry about the messup.

Ok.. Here we go.. Some pics of my meal at Abacus in Dallas, TX, home of contestant Tre Wilcox (Tre WAS in the kitchen that night cooking) Beet cured smoked salmon Pink snapper Halibut blackberry sorbet pork tenderloin Venison "Kobe" beef with foie gras assorted cheese plate flan Sorry the descriptions aren't better. I didn't take notes and there was no printed menu available to us. It's really a great restaurant, and Tre does good things. They are especially good with seafood, which is pretty neat since it's not a seafood place and because Dallas is really big beef town (tons and tons of steakhouses here). More about Tre here at the restaurant's website http://www.abacus-restaurant.com//tre.php I plan on getting episodes from iTunes Store. I've only missed two, it looks like, so I can catch up pretty qucikly.

I don't watch Top Chef because I don't have Bravo on my cable lineup.. But I found out from a friend of mine that Tre Wilcox from Abacus is a contestent. He was with me with a bunch of other friends at the Chef's Table at Abacus back in early May. Tre was there in the kitchen, and actually cooking. Great meal. I've got a bunch of pics in my FLickr account. I'll transfer them to eGullet and post them so you can see the type of stuff he does in an actual working restaurant.

I see this sort of thing with iced tea. I actually prefer it that way. A nice, new, fresh glass that I can adjust with lemon and sugar instead of having a nicely balanced glass getting all messed up when it gets topped off.

What's the story on a good buffet for Sunday Brunch? Bellagio or Wynn? Or some other place? (did Spice Market at Aladdin two years ago and thought it was so-so)

I just booked Wing Lei for Sunday, July 1st. The duck tasting menu is what I am going for. Just sounds so good! So, I have Wing Lei and Fix booked. I need dinner two more nights. Still debating what to do Saturday. With Boulud being closed while I am there, I am leaning towards Bouchon to get my French bistro fix. Still not sure about the last night.

I made a bunch ginger vodka gimlets when I had some ginger infused simple syrup I made for some stir fry. Basically, it's just a simple syrup (2 parts sugar 1 part water) made with a bunch of fresh, sliced ginger. Let it simmer in the sauce pan for 20 minutes or so. To make the cocktail, it's just some fresh lime juice, some vodka, and some of the syrup. Next time, I'll try it with gin. And I also think I'll try the trick squeezing out some fresh ginger jucice with a garlic press to get some extra kick.

So, what's the real deal with Aaron? is his role here nothing but "comic relief" for us? I know I keep saying this is a TV show and not a true picture of a real kitchen/restaurant, but when Gordon asked Aaron to be the person deboning the Dover sole tableside, why not train him? Obviously, the answer is to make Aaron look like a dope. Still, you would think they could have at least given him a figthing chance. Have Gordon (or maybe Jean Phillip) train Aaron on the technique, then let him loose and see how he does. He could suprise as all and do well, or just hang him self with his own noose.

If the place you are working at is currently doing well, keep doing what you are doing well. If most of your client base is people who own second homes in the area, then to me, they don't sound like a typical tourist. They are already coming to the area on a regular basis, so the casino will be less of a draw for them. Yes, many will probably go check out the casino. I mean, I would too if I knew there were to be some good quality restaurants there. (i've had fantastic meals in casinos in Las Vegas). So, how do you make sure those customers come back? I say focus on the location of your place. I bet it's more convenient for them to go to your place instead of to some place inside a massive, sprawling hotel/casino resort. Focus on the more intimate envrionment of a smaller place. I bet the staff at your places knows a lot of your regular customers. The casino won't. You have that going for you.

just yesterday, I was listening to an eipsode of KCRW's Good Food (on my iPod) and the host was intervewing a chef/owner of a Los Angeles restaurant (Grace) about this very subject in conjunction with him discussing the whole "eat local" thing. So, water is really part of it. He said bottled water is great. There is a lot of markup on it, and it makes them money. However, the "carbon footprint" of it is high. The water may come from some srping in Europe. The bottle is made in China. It needs to be shipped to Europe. The box the water goes into is made some place else. It gets shipped to Europe. The water is bottled and box and put in a containter and shipped to the USA. But it goes to some east coast port. Now, the water gets put on a truck and drives across the country. All that for water. So, what to do? Install the filtering system others have talked about and use local municpal water and run it through there. You can serve it in a nice, chilled decanter, or even put it in a glass bottle with one of those Grolsh beer bottle type lids. It's simple, really, and plays into the "eat local" movement. Sure, you are losing a nice little profit center, but I guess that can be made up somplace else.

Interesting. I think the second article should have discussed all the blogs and posts of forums that consistently PRAISE a restaurant that may otherwise be somewhat overlooked by the pro reviewers. I'm sure many people here at eGullet went to restaurants not because of a great professional review, but rather a series of "amatuer" reviews by "crazy Internet people". This can really help out a place, in my view. I'm sure there are some greatful chefs/owners out there who have been helped by bloggers. Yes, one review by some potential crack pot on it's own may not mean much. But a series of reviews that are conistent in pointing out a flaws an issues should not be so easily dismissed. Especially when the reviewers in question post lots of reviews with lots of positive reviews and comments. We aren't all pros, but a lot of us dine out a lot and know what we like and what is good and know how to *correctly* identify something that is amiss. I wonder if Rick Bayless reads here? Does Mario?