eipi10

wow that sounds awesome.

I'm a sucker for seaweed salad. But as much as I love it, I'm getting bored with it. Even the best Japanese places I've been to have essentially the same recipe. Some add tobiko, but that hardly changes the flavor. It's only bad when it's too sweet. The other important factor seems to be the quantity and quality of sesame oil used. Come to think of it, I'm a sucker for any cold dish with sesame oil.

I'm not a health nut at all, but nutritional yeast has always been my favorite, and nothing else comes close. Definitely not brewer's yeast though! And the nutritional yeast has to be the right kind. One time I decided to get the more expensive imported, wild kind--big mistake. It has to be big yellow flakes with a cheesy flavor. The ultimate for me is when I pour melted butter onto the yeasty popcorn. The yeast soaks up the butter and forms rich clumps on every kernel. Told you I'm not a health nut!

In answer to your second question, I doubt it. The only difference is you will be able to find some good Belgian beers in ordinary grocery stores. Another nice thing I remember is the price: about one euro for a bottle of Chimay Bleu in Paris. I pay about four times that in Boston.

Each of the top-five rated beers on http://www.ratebeer.com has an alcohol content over 10%. I think the reason is simple. More alcohol means more grain which means more flavor. This isn't to say there's no place for beers like Pilsner Urquell, Sam Smith's Oatmeal Stout, and Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. One of the great, sometimes forgotten things about beer is its relaxing quaffability

I've come to the conclusion that St Bernardus 12 is one of the five or so best beers in the world. Drank it yesterday on tap. Yes, I can get it in two locations on tap in Boston, life is good.

Hi, as you probably know it's not the greatest area for foodies, but there is tasty food to be found. If you want to try something authentic to the area, there are dozens of good Cuban restaurants. One of the best and probably the most well-known is West Tampa Sandwich Shop (3904 North Armenia Avenue). A lovely place to have lunch (or dinner I suppose) is Circles in South Tampa (2500 W. Azeele Street). The restaurant takes up all of a cozy house. The food is pan-Asian influenced and, in my opinion, very well done. My favorite dinner in Tampa is at SideBerns on Howard Avenue. http://www.sideberns.com/. The menu is very innovative and the food is wonderful. Atmosphere and service are also excellent. The best known restaurant in Tampa is Berns Steakhouse. Not my thing, so I won't comment on it. You can check it out on the website for SideBerns. Pane Rustica in South Tampa is a wonderful place for a quick sandwich and for delicious desserts and baked goods. I echo the sentiments of the NYC transplant on this website. http://tampabay.citysearch.com/profile/2684666/?brand=google. It's probably the only inexpensive Tampa cafe that competes with the best of NYC and SF. And it wins!

Whisk(e)y is my favorite spirit, but it sounds crazy to save your money for months to buy one bottle of whisky you might hate. You can get delicious bottles of whiskey for $50. Through good fortune, I have gone to dozens of open-bar receptions where I could try expensive pours of spirits. I found that Macallan is my favorite single malt scotch producer. I found that the 18 year old is slightly but noticeably better than the 12, and truth be told I couldn't discern the difference between the 25 and the 18. Now I never got to drink them side by side for a true comparison, but I'm saying there are major diminishing returns. The 25 is about $400, the 18 about $150, and the 12 about $45. I personally wouldn't buy the 25 unless I were a millionaire. Moreover, Macallan 12 is a great buy. The only single malt I thought to be in the same league as Macallan, of the ones I tried, was Talisker, but I'm less familiar with it. Blended scotches can be fantastic too. By far the best I've had is Johnnie Walker Blue (~$300?). Here there's a big difference between the blue and the lesser Johnnie Walker blends, in my opinion. I enjoy other whiskeys also, but I'm less familiar with them. Bourbon and scotch are totally different beasts, and it doesn't make sense to me to say scotch is better so I'm not going to drink bourbon.

I like Chalfonte and Pierre Ferrand and detest Courvoisier and Hennessey. To be honest, I prefer Grand Marnier, which is based on cognac, to all four of these.

I don't buy this. For example, Indian black salt would never be mistaken for pure NaCl.

That's very interesting. Conceivably the improvement is more my psychological expectation than a real phenomenon. I will say that I've never found a wine I thought was as good after 3 days. That said, this is really yummy and it certainly made class more tolerable!

As a student, I can't often purchase a wine of sufficient quality to be cellared, much less an old bottle whose price has appreciated. Recently I bought a $50 2001 Barolo, which was too tough to drink yesterday, even after I let it stand in the glass for a half hour or so. Today though, it seems in perfect form--the tannins have smoothed out, there's a tad bit more acidity, and it's altogether more aromatic and rounded. I've noticed time and time again that good reds are better the next day. I'm neither a chemist nor a wine expert, so I wonder--how similar is this effect to the effect of bottle aging?

I'm bemused by the recitation of the specials even when they're printed in the menu. We only eat chicken and fish, but the waiter is going on and on about the lamb. The waiter valiantly struggles to recall his spiel. Seems worrisome, because if he can't remember the specials, how will we? But no worries--we're saved by the power of literacy. Indeed, we can read along with the speaker like we did in middle school. What's missing is the waiter calling on us to read the next special out loud. As for prices, charge me what you want. If I think it's inappropriate, I won't come back. Given the number of restaurant options I have, trying to finagle a few more dollars out of me is not a smart business practice.

Great post. I've always thought that the creamy milk-fat insulates my tongue. I was surprised the researchers thought it was the protein. To test which is the case, it would be interesting to try a lower fat cheese like a mozzarella or parmigiano reggiano. I think the effect would be greatly subdued with parmigiano reggiano and a big red. I think this also explains why white and dessert wines pair more easily with cheeses. The tongue only senses basic flavors--sweet, salty, sour, bitter. White and dessert wines have heavy sourness, sweetness, even saltiness (e.g. minerals in Chablis) that can still register through the dulled tongue.

1. Both, but I lean toward white rice. I'm very picky about rice--I think it can make or break Chinese food. 2. Sometimes I eat straight from the containers (I'm a student). But if I decide on a plate, I leave the rice and entree separate, though the sauce is free to roam into the rice. If the rice is good quality, I won't do much more mixing. Occasionally I'll add a tiny bit of soy sauce (not the horrid tuff that comes with Chinese takeout) to the rice, though I know this isn't habitual in Asia. 3. Chopsticks. 4. I eat everything, even the peppers. 5. No. But I do like plain ol' fried rice. 6. Always different things. 7. Can't say I have a favorite experience 8. Or a least favorite one

Salmon, like tuna, is wonderful for the versatility. While it doesn't seem like the best fish, I surely eat it more than any other fish (I'm a fan of bagels with lox). It's also underrated raw...I love the butteriness. Toro is probably my favorite sushi. Yellowtail and mackerel are other favorites. Catfish is my choice for cooked fish because it holds up so well in flavorful dishes and because I grew up eating catfish I caught on our pond. A fiery basil catfish is probably my favorite Thai dish. And for sandwiches, I love them with olive oily shredded cod and tapenade.

I was annoyed by this article. I have frequented popular locally-owned coffeeshops across the country that have been in business for years. Sometimes they serve amazing coffee. Other times they have great atmospheres or tasty food. But from dozens of shops in Berkeley to Tryst and Murky in DC to Greenberry's in Charlottesville, they work. Even chains like Peet's and Caribou are local in a sense, and they are successful. It just sounds like this guy's shop didn't press anybody's buttons. I want my coffee from someone who knows a lot more about coffees than I do, which is highly doubtful from what I read. I don't want my coffee on a silver platter. And if I do pay for my coffee to be served on on a silver platter, I'm going to take my time and relax there. It doesn't seem shocking that people wouldn't rush in droves to have somebody else's baked goods served to them on a silver platter with Vienna roast coffee at a get-in/get-out establishment.

As a student I have to watch what I purchase. So after busting twelve (seriously) glasses by myself in the past two years, I am currently drinking pretty decent wines out of little green party cups. They weren't Riedels, but they were probably the equivalent on my budget. Amazingly, I've never managed to break a bottle of wine or any other alcoholic beverage, as far as I can remember.

"I’m hesitant to choose among Jose Andres’ children, but I can’t see rating Zaytiyna (3) above both Atlantico (2.5) and Jaleo (2) unless one is one x-ing on the beauty of the room and its inhabitants, as opposed to focused on the food." You took the words out of my mouth. In my opinion it's downright absurd to say that Zaytinya is two notches better than Jaleo. When I see ratings like that, I think "pretentious" (because "full of shit" is impolite).

The topic itself seems heathenish, I realize. I have read a good deal of wine literature, and this outrageous idea has never been broached or even intimated. Yet, I am a curious sort. Just now I blended two highly-rated wines--roughly (very roughly) 70% of a fruit-bomb Australian shiraz and 30% of a peppery Spanish garnacha lacking body. The snob in me will not allow a lie. The blend was fantastic--so good in fact that I worry this post may suffer from sloppiness (though hesitation has diminished). So I got to wondering. Could such a global mixture of wines fool the world's most acute wine palates in a blind tasting? If my blend of wines, each given a 90-100 rating by Robert Parker, were inserted one of his Spain or Australian tastings, what would the rating be? What about a Northern Rhone tasting? Will post-cork-pop wine blending become the wine world's future craze? Perhaps a few blind tastings would pave the way.

What a dumbass. You're not supposed to pull stunts like that until AFTER you've scored once. Also some advice about males. Many are an ironic combination of overthinking and retarded. When you choose Malaysian, this dude probably ponders it for a while and comes to the conclusion that you are wild, adventurous, and crazy. After all, damned if he even knows where Malaysia is. Sounds kind of exotic! A tapas joint is a better choice. Either he won't know what it is or he'll think it's trendy/neutral, and it's a great opportunity to see if he's greedy or slovenly. Unfortunately, about a third of men will be sorely disappointed that the waitresses are fully clothed.

I have difficulty pinpointing the flavors in sharp white wines. For example, today I drank a biting muscadet. If I had to characterize its predominant flavor, I may say grapefruit, but I may also say minerals because it reminds me of the tangy, even salty flavors in a mineral water like Pellegrino. I think in fact that both types of flavors might be present. Is it my imagination that I'm tasting minerals? I don't know enough about viticulture or biology to know what substances are in wine. I'm a bit suspect of the mineral theory because I don't tend to taste minerals in reds, but I see no reason they would be present only in white wines. Any thoughts?

Someone mentioned grits. If grits count as a cereal, then a bowl of cheese grits with fresh pepper and butter--maybe a dash of Tabasco--is by far my favorite. I also like cream of wheat with brown sugar and cinnamon and oatmeal with raisins. In the cold cereal category, the best that comes to mind is The Baker's granola cereal (which is available at Whole Foods). Amazing textures and depth of flavor. For "junk" cereals, I like frosted mini wheats. It's just dawned on me that my tastes tend toward healthier stuff. No fruit loops for me--I get nauseated from all the sugar.

Hours, location, and phone number should be required. I never use a phone book these days. A sample menu subject to change is a huge plus. I understand if the menu changes--I just want an idea. I want to see whether a Thai restaurant serves things like "happy noodles" and "crazy rice" or dishes that look interesting and authentic. Maintaining a webpage requires a very small amount of money and effort. How hard is it to update it if you change your hours (this would be important)? I agree with the other posters--no stupid music in the background, no intro (God I hate intros), just html.

Suppose you were planning a two-week vacation abroad with the aim of finding tasty, interesting food that surpasses that which is available in the US. What country or area of the world would you travel to?