jsmeeker

I think this is spot on. There are SO many wines out there (not just varieties and styles, but all the examples WITHIN those varieties and styles) that it's mind bogling. I'm trying to learn more about wine. I'm learning, which is good, but in a way, it's "bad" becasue as I learn a little, I learn that there is much more to learn! Ughhh... It's crazy. It's fun, though. I enjoy wine. So far, I really haven't had much "bad" wine. And by "bad", I mean something that just really disagreed with me. Of course, my tastes haven't been fully developed, so I'm sure I've enjoyed a lot of wines that many here would call "swill" (or is it "plonk"??)

15% across the board. regardless of service, apparently. although, it's just a TV show and i have no idea how generous she is in real life. nor do most people. ← i only really watched her $40 on a day show a few times, but i recalled in one episode, a new york episode i believe, she went to a restaurant with live jazz music, asked the waitress a ton of questions, took a table close to the band, used the table for probably at least 1.5-2 hours, and then tipped 15%, which i believe worked out to about $2. in another situation, Rachel Ray went to a very high end restaurant just to have dessert (for the experience...) and again, tipped about $1 for amazing service and for using the table for over an hour. although her tips were technically within the bottom end of the acceptable range, being an exact 15%, it just doesn't seem fair to the restaurant or the wait staff to engage in those kinds of practices. if most customers followed her lead, my guess is that the places she visits would soon be out of business. sorry for the rant. the tipping thing has always bothered me. it sets a terrible example for those who actually use the show for information purposes and don't really know any better. (i know i'm preaching to the choir here - and that very few on this board would use that show for information purposes) ← It's the format of the show that causes this, and probably not Rachael's actual, personal tipping habits. They have a hard set cap on what she spends (hence, the name of the show). Personally, I have some issues with the hard rules like this (or the 30 minute one). However, to be a little fair to Rachael, there ARE a lot of people that follow a hard 15% rule, sometimes even breaking out the calculator and tipping to the exact penny. I've seen it. I'm sure lots of us have. It's not like she created this. Is there anything wrong with going to a fancy place for a drink and appetizer at the bar? Or dessert? No. Not in my opinion. I think you'll find others here that agree and will suggest the same thing.

I've used an 8 inch pyrex before. I line it with two pieces of parchment paper (one in each dimension with excess spilling out over the sides) and oil that - then I can easily lift the entire slab out of the pan for cutting. ← That sounds like a good idea. I'll give that a try when I do the caramels. (I really want to do those)

Heck yeah!!! This is the way I make waffles. I first saw a recipe for it in Cooks Illustrated. For me, it was the perfect recipe just from the convenience factor. It's like making any other simple batter, except it has yeast in it. No need to mess around with whipping egg whites (more work than I want to do first thing in the mroning for breakfast). Fix up the batter the night before. Put the batter in the fridge. In the morning, pull it out, heat up the waffle iron, and start to make fresh waffles. It's brilliant.

I just means I'll have to remember the new, correct amount so I can pay with exact change. (note that I don't ALWAYS do that, but I frequently do when I am out in L.A.)

wow.. This is great!! Just in time for Halloween. Questions.. #1 For the caramel, it says "Now add the warm cream in 3 or 4 aliquots". What the heck is an "aliquot"?? My best guess says it means "add the warm cream in 3 or 4 additions" (as oppose to dumping it all in at once) #2 Another question on size of pans. (for the chewy caramel) Would this work OK in a quarter sheet pan?? (I don't have the exact dimensions handy). What about a 8" square glass Pyrex dish?

Around here (and by that, I mean the subruban areas of far north Dallas and the nothern suburbs), there doesn't seem to be much competition. It's pretty much all Starbucks. Before that, there was pretty much nothing. I don't think Dallas had much of a coffee culture. Maybe there were a few places closer into the center of the city. But for the most part, Starbucks single handedly created the market for pricey, fancy coffee drinks. I go to Starbucks. I always get one of those epsresso based drinks with steamed milk and some other flavorings. Or maybe one of the frozen drinks or an iced tea drink. I think I've only purchased a regular cup of coffee at Starbucks ONE time. Out in Los Angeles, I see competition. But for the most part, it's from another big chain (Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf). Where do I go when I'm in L.A.?? Starbucks? Why? Because I don't have to cross the street to get there. It's on the same block, same side of the street as my office. If the locations were reversed? I think I would probably go to Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf (yeah, I'm pretty damn lazy). I can see why other companies want to locate near a starbucks. It makse sense. Especially if there is a lot of foot traffic. Just think of all the people like me who don't want to wait to cross the street.

I used one in a cooking class (at a Viking cooking school) a while back (two years??). I found it was very awkward to attach the attachments (paddle, whisk) to the machine. Maybe I was too used to my Kitchen Aid?? I dunno. Because of that, I wasn't very fond of them.

This thread is great!! It's kinda cool to see people mention all of these old-school dishes. It's motivating me to make some Steak Diane. Since it's a traditional table side dish, it means that it's quick to cook. I think it actually may be perfect for a weeday meal, assuming I can find a version doesn't have too much prep. Does any one havea good recipe that doesn't require me to make my own veal demi-glace?

A restaurant in Las Vegas can be as much a destination as a restaurant in New York City our in Yountville, California. Vegas casinos are gettting more and more revenue from NON-gaming sources now. If fact, in some places, I believe that more revenue comes from non-gaming than from gaming sources.

I just love these posts of yours! Such great work.

I saw National Guard troops doing the same at LAX two weeks ago. I was actually surprised that my flight back to DFW was NOT screened by them at boarding time.

For a chain, Chipotle is pretty good. From what I can tell, a lot of fresh food being prepared. You can see them grilling the chicken, then chopping it up. You can see them make quacamole from avacado, and a few other fresh ingredients. Don't see where the rest of the meat comes from, but I'll assume it's made on the premises.

Not sure I understand your post. "Too bad there is no way to search based on route..." Yes there is. As you go on to point out. The only thing listed on the route from Dallas to Lubbock is in Ft. Worth. ← It costs money to get the maps, and there really is no convenient way to figure out if any of the places you can see on-line are actually along your route of travel. If you poke around in your state or a state you are familar with, you'll notice that some places don't really meet one important definition of "road food". Close to the highway. What I'd like to see is to combine route planning with an option that says how far you are willing to deviate from that route to get to a place (i.e. 1 mile, 2 miles, etc.) That would make it more useful.

I guess I have to BUY the magazine to read the article?? Hmmm... I'll go ahead and say it. (I think I may be the first to do so in this thread). I love Las Vegas. LOVE IT!! My "new" interest in fine dining makes it even better. I've dined at a few places on Richaman's "OK" list. L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon Bouchon Michael Mina Emeril's New Orleans Fish House Very good experiences at all of them. The first three were back in late June of the year. Emeril's was last summer. Year before that, I dined at Picasso. Is this "faux" fine dining? No way. Not in my opinion. Is a lot of other stuff in Vegas "faux"? Hell yeah. But so what. It's VEGAS. There are lots of things I love about Vegas. But this is about the dining scene, so I'll keep my comments there. Where else does some guy like me have access to so many fine dining places by named chefs? New York? Maybe. San Francisco? Possibly. Paris? I guess. Vegas is a bit closer than all of those (a lot closer than Paris), and I don't speak French. Good accommodations are also more affordable. And these accommodations are convenient to all the food action. Also, it's accessible. I've had no issues obtaining reservations at any of those places. Easy. This isn't always the case in other cities. Tables can be tough to come by. This makes Vegas one of the best "dining destination" cities in the USA. Seriously. A trip to Vegas for the primary, if not sole purpose to have many fine dining meals is NOT a crazy proposition. It's really doable for anyone. Absent big name chefs? As Fat Guy points out, that happens in lots of places. I say, keep it up. I'll keep going back every year for more. Prior to dining at L'Atelier, a few of us strolled into the nextdoor "Mansion". The hostess was very nice and pleasant and was more than happy to allow us to take a look. We're already itching to try it next year. While some people go to Cheesecake Factory and wait 90 minutes for a table, I'll make a quick call to Bouchon for a dinner reservation, then head over there.

fair enough. IF you want to discount Dallas from that list, that's fine. Which US cities, other than NYC, are on that list? Los Angeles? San Francisco? Miami??

Interesting site. Too bad there is no way to search based on route (i.e. the roads you are taking). There ARE maps available that have all of the places marked, but you have to pay $20 per year to get it. I don't do many road trips, but it would be interesting to see what it came up with for a trip I HAVE taken in the past. For example, Dallas to Lubbock.

No way. I think Dallas would easily take NYC in this category. You should see how many high-end steak joints we have.

I never pack any food for my flights**. But I'm flying short hops (like Dallas to Los Angeles), so it's not a big deal. ** a few times, I've carried a large container of cookies or brownies or chocoalte tofee with me, but that wasn't to eat on the plane. It was for a party at the destination city.

Not a movie, so maybe that's why no one has mentioned it. (at least not that I saw). But how about "The Sopranos"? (the TV series on HBO). It's *loaded* with food references, scenes, etc. Many scenes occur in restaurants, butcher shops, bakeries, etc. Lots of eating and cooking going on at the homes as well.

I usually do the Alton Brown metohd at home. I don't use a fancy wooden bowl, nor do I do it table side. I just do it in my kitchen. (the salad is usually just for me). I thought Altons method DID mash the garlic with the salt. Maybe it doesn't come through in the on-line recipe like it does in the show? As far as anchovies are converned, it's not there because the ORIGINAL recipe didn't use any. Julia Child seems to concur. IIRC, she was actually served a Casear salad by Mr. Cardini himself. Anyway, as to table side prep of Casesar salad and other food items. It seems to be pretty much a lost, "old school" sort of thing. There is one restaurant in Dallas that's still known for doing the Casesar salad, along with other classic table side preperations. Is it outdated? To "fussy" and not in step with more modern cooking techniques? Maybe. But it sure can be fun from time to time.

To me, that's the crux of it. The choice of where to eat is zero sum: you have a finite number of nice meals out per year, and any time you choose to dine at one restaurant, you're also choosing not to dine at any other restaurant for that meal. ← Is your general suggestion mostly aimed at "fine dining" establishments? In my case that we discussed previously, I had a list of fine dining places I wanted to try in Dallas. My friend really wanted to try Craft (started to talk about it before it even opened). I *did* try to suggest these other places, so I guess in a way I really *was* doing (trying to, at least) what you suggested. You are right that I have limited opportunities for the high end fine dining. I suspect Craft will be around for a while. Did I waste one of my fine dining opportunites at a *different* place that *I* was interested in? I dunno. Maybe. But we had a very good experience at Craft, so it wasn't like it was a big bust.

Interesting. I had actually thought about bringing up this subject after reading Steven's comments. In that thread, I posted that I was going to break that rule. (and I did, and it was worth it) In a way, I can understand where he is coming from when he says to wait a bit. Maybe a year is a bit too long, though. Maybe it better applies to restuarants opened by chefs that aleady have a prove track record or opened by large restaurant groups that have a good track record? I dunno. Steven will need to clarify. However, I don't think it's a great rule, especially for a new place opened by "local" guy/gal/family. A chef starting out on his own with his (or her) own place, not backed by a big restaurant group. If we are all encouraged to stay away and we DO stay away, it might fail. I may miss out on something good.

I was finally able to see the Beirut episode. Really good stuff. So well done. We all know Tony had nothing but positive things to say about the U.S. Marines and the U.S. Navy and we got to see that in the show. I'd like to suggest to tony that he either do an episode of No Reservations or maybe even a "special" show that focuses on food in the military. How them men and women eat (and cook) at base, in the field, and on ships. I know there have been a few shows like this show before on Food TV, but as with most things, Tony's take on it would make it even more interesting. Just a thought.

yeah. The restaurant is in las vegas.