jsmeeker

I think it was 3 1/2 - 4 hours. Last year in Las Vegas at Emeril's New Orleans Fish House at the MGM Grand. 10 of us at the chef's "Kitchen Table". I think it was 7 courses. Really great.

get some more chicken, some onions, and break out the stock pot.

The price of those free range eggs is pretty damn high, too. It can be a couple of bucks for a dozen. I'm not worried about the health aspects of eggs. In fact, I'm going to have 2 or 3 of them for breakfast tomorrow. I would LIKE to eat organic chickens and eggs and dairy, fruits, vegetables, etc. all the time. Really, I would. If you are going to eat "ethically", you gotta go "all in", don't you?? . But I just flat out can't justify the costs. I already spend too much money as it is preparing foods at home. Going all organic would raise my food costs even more. Maybe one day, the price difference will not be so great. Then, I'll be able to afford it all the time.

If you buy whole carrots and turn them yourself, you'll save enough to buy a free range bird. ← Heh.... But I don't have time to do that on a Wednesday night when I get home from work at 7:00 PM. My time is worth something! I'll have to check prices on those cut baby carrots. I don't think a pound of them costs a whole lot more than a pound of normal carrots. ← You could confine yourself to buying free range when you can afford it, and the rest of the time get your protein through sources such as beans. This would entail giving up some chicken eating, but would make you a more ethical shopper, which seems like a reasonable trade off, doesn't it? ← I dunno about that. I like to get my protein from animals. Chicken is reasonably priced source. But there can be a pretty remarkable difference between a 4 pound regular bird and a 4 pound organic free range bird. To me, it seems a bit silly for someone with my financial means to spend that much money on chicken for a typical, cooked at home, solo meal.

If you buy whole carrots and turn them yourself, you'll save enough to buy a free range bird. ← Heh.... But I don't have time to do that on a Wednesday night when I get home from work at 7:00 PM. My time is worth something! I'll have to check prices on those cut baby carrots. I don't think a pound of them costs a whole lot more than a pound of normal carrots.

What's wrong with the bags of cut, baby carrots? I like 'em. Open bag, dump into roating pan, sprinkle with some olive oil, salt (kosher, of cousre), and pepper. Toss it all together, then roast in a hot oven. It's simple and pretty tasty. Factory farm chickens? Yeah. yeah, I know. But it's tough for me to spend the much, much higher costs for a fancy free range organic bird.

I guess I am brain dead tonight. I can't seem to find the pictures. I click the link in the OP, then click "EN" for English. Then click the "enter ElBulli.com" link. From there, I am poking around, but can't find photos. Edit: NEver mind. I finally found them.

did you have second breakfast? ← I was eating 2nd breakfast for awhile and got really fat. But I would still have to recommend second breakfast to those who haven't tried it. ← I did that sometimes on my cruise. Order room service when I woke up. They only offered continental type breakfast, but it was something to eat (cereal, fruit, coffee OJ). Then, I would shower and get dressed and head to the dining room for a more proper sit down breakfast. If that wasn't enough, I could go up to the buffet and graze.

Here are my weird food "hates". Raw tomatoes -- yup, another vote for them. Just don't like slided tomatoes on burgers or sandwiches. Don't like tomatoes on a salad or on my tacos. But tomato sauce or any any type of canned tomato? No problem. A fresh tomato that has been used to make something that is then cooked? That's just fine. Mayo -- Just can not have it on a burger. Ewww... Something about it. I think it's because it gets warm. Didn't like it on a sandwhich, either. But it's essential for tuna salda, egg salad, etc. Weird, eh? What's even weirder is that I have actually MADE my own mayo. Now, I think I can tolerate some good mayo or mayo that has been "jazzed up" on a sandwich. Not a lot of it, but a small amout is OK Vinegar -- totally can not stand the smell of it. At all. It would gross me out to no end that some people would drink it. (small sips). Yet I have five (5) different types in my pantry. Crazy, I know. Cold pasta salads -- just flat out don't like 'em. No weird exceptions on this one.

did you have second breakfast?

anyone know anything about the Riedel Vivant collection? It appears to be exclusive to Target stores. It doesn't show up on the Riedel website, but you can view them at the Target on-line store site. (I actually first saw them in a Super Target here in Dallas) http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/ref=b...asin=B000BCF0IO

I hope that somehow, some way, this makes it into a show. The show could end with Tony and crew being evacuated from Beirut bye the U.S. Marines on a big helicopter. Maybe he could snack on an MRE on the flight out. (Is that too morbid for me to think of? ) Anyway, stay safe, Tony and crew.

The only person on your list who I have actually met is Kerry Simon. First met him briefly about one month ago. Saw him again on Monday when I dined at his new place in L.A. Also, ran into him yesterday. Nice guy. Friendly. Seemed to be enjoying what he was doing and that people were enjoying his new place.

The W is now open. Has anyone dined there yet? A friend of mine was thinking about checking it out and wanted me to go with her.

I don't have much to add to this thread other than to say I've been lurking here in eGullet for some time, and I have really been fascinated with this thread. I love the picutres. Very nicely done. You seem to be learning so much and school and a great deal of that is due to your own personal efforts. I'm sure you will excel at your career. Good luck, and keep it coming.

Does anyone know when Travel Channel will re-air "Decoding Ferran Adria"? I have a season pass for "No Reservations" on my TiVo, but it didn't pick up this episode since it was a "special" as opposed to a regular episode of "No Reservations". I suppose I can set wish list for "Ferran Adria" or something like that.

I guess this is as good as any place to make my first post on eGullet. I was in Las Vegas two weeks ago, and one of the places I dined at was L'Atelier. I learned about this place from this forum. I've been lurking for sometime, and I think it paid off. I had a wonderful meal. There were 8 of us, all at one end of the long counter. The server behind the counter was young, but he was great. Very friendly. I liked the overall look of the room. It's a "lunch counter", but much, much nicer of course. One of my favorite features of the room was that there was a restroom inside the restaurant. That's slightly unusual for a place in a strip casino. Food was great. We all had the tasting menu. The highlights for me were the gazpacho, the oysters, the egg dish (really, really good), the smoked salmon, and the quail with fois gras. At first, I was disappointed there was no chocolate dessert, but the two ice cream based ones we had were very tasty, and appropriate for the 100+ degree day it was in Las Vegas. ( I didn't take pics, but a companion did. I can check with him to see if it's OK to post them here) We didn't feel rushed. The servers did a nice job of delivering fine dining type service at a bar/counter. Several of were interested in wine. There is no wine pairing option for the tasting menu, but the server did a nice job of selecting four glasses for the duration of the nine courses. at one point, he asked if anyone was no a fan of champagne. We said no. For dessert, he offered a choice of dessert wines. What we selected was nice. The only sour notes came later. No petis fours or anything like at the end of the meal. But the weird part is that they claimed we were short on the bill. As stated above, there were eight of us. The bill was a tad over $1800 (tip had been included in that number). I'm POSITIVE we left more than that. We were standing around outside the restaurant relaxing, when they came out to us an told us. We wound up forking over a few more bucks. Not sure what happened (personally, I think they miscounted one of the bills). Next time, someone will just put it all on plastic and we will all pay them back. Speaking of next time.... Prior to out meal at L'Atelier, some of us went into the Mansion next door. They were very nice and polite and allowed us to poke our heads into the main dining room. We all thought it was AMAZING, and several of us are VERY interested in dining there at the Mansion next year and going "all in" for the 16 course menu.