jende

Add me to the list of people who hasn't even thought about Tater Tots for 25 years, but couldn't stop obsessing about them since reading this thread. I couldn't bring myself to buy Ore-Ida, even for the sake of sentiment, but I found a "healthy" brand that only listed a few ingredients besides potatoes, and no trans fat. I'm going to bake them up nice and crispy with a beer-marinated sirloin and a nice arugula and avocado salad. My husband is psyched.

I should clarify, I think it was the Littlenecks that were gritty not the canned clams.

Thanks, that's what I thought. I had never used canned clams before, but I couldn't imagine that they'd be gritty!

As a Detroiter, this is great news for me!! I think you'll have big success in that location. There's tons of foot traffic not only on game days but any time there are events at Ford Field and the Fox. Congratulations and best of luck.

I made clam chowder using both canned clams and some steamed Littlenecks. The end result was very tasty, but kind of gritty and I'm trying to find the likely grit culprit. I rinsed the Littlenecks then steamed them separately in water and wine. I pulled them out into a clean bowl, let them cool a little, then dumped them with some juices that collected in the bowl into the soup pot. I did not use any of the steaming liquid because I did notice some grit in the bottom of the pot and didn't have any cheesecloth to strain it with. The canned clams I just dumped into the pot. My sense is that the Littlenecks held the grit. Anyone care to chime in? And if it was the Littlenecks, how can I avoid it in the future? Just rinse them once they are cooked?

The frigid weather this past weekend kept me close to home, so we went to Enoteca Roma (wonderful cheeses and salumi). I still would like to try Terragusto some time soon.

I agree. This was a very interesting post and a bit surprising. I can never imagine Steingarten for example serving Pillsbury pigs in a blanket. I'd expect a lot more from Richman. There is a fine line between rustic and kind of lazy (the roast beef looks boiled). Although the tempura does sound good. ← I get what you're saying, but note that Fat Guy found both dishes delicious, even if they are trashy. I kind of liked that Richman proudly served what he felt he made best -- he's a professional food critic, not a professional chef!

Thanks for a delightful post! I've always been a fan of Alan Richman and his cranky ways, and it's cool to see him in his element. Pigs in a blanket are genius.

I would try calling/emailing and explain your situation. You never know, they might give you a reservation earlier than they normally do. ← That's a good idea. If you call the full month ahead, though, I think you should be able to get a rez especially if you're flexible on the time.

I look forward to your report back. ← I'm still on the fence about going here or A Mano, but I'll report back either way.

I would LOVE this recipe too. Did you eat it straight up, or use it for sandwiches and such? ← We ate it straight up, mostly. I did toast it and put strawberry jam on it which was good. My dad did cinnamon and sugar, which he said was good. I tastes best warm, so I'd heat it in the oven or toast it very lightly, maybe with some butter. This was the recipe I had written down, I ended up needing a lot more flour, maybe about 4 cups in total. I was really winging it. 2 cups of flour 3/4 cup packed brown sugar 1/2 oats 1 teaspoon salt 2 tablespoons melted butter About 3 1/2 or 4 bananas, mashed 3/4 cup warm milk 2 teaspoons active dry yeast 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon 1 cup chopped walnuts Mix together flour, sugar, oats, cinnamon, salt, and bananas. Melt butter, pour into the mixture. Warm milk to dissolve ADY. Pour dissolved yeast-milk mixture to flour mixture and let sit for a few minutes. Then I used a dough hook to mix together a bit before putting on floured counter and kneading. The dough should achieve a satiny and smoothish texture. When your almost done kneading, knead in walnuts. Put in lightly oiled or greased bowl, cover, and let rise for about 2-2 1/2 hours. (In all honesty, it didn't rise much, but I seem to have bad luck with that. It puffed up real nicely during baking.) Divide the dough as desired and shape. Cover and lets rise for about 1- 1 1/2 hours. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes and sheet pan. Rotate and bake for about 20 more minutes. Side notes: Probably didn't need the oats. I had oats, so I felt like putting them in...haha. I used brown sugar, but granulated would probably be good too. I actually used buttermilk, but I think whole milk would be better. Those are the things I would change. Also, I just looked up banana yeast bread, found some recipes similar to mine. LOL. If you decide you want to try it, please let me know how it turns out! ← I made the bread this morning. I needed close to 6 cups of flour (so I ended up with a BIG loaf!) and I used a mix of white flour and whole wheat (about 2:1). I also cut back on the brown sugar to about a half-cup and the cinnamon to just a pinch. I had a little trouble with the inside still being a bit doughy after the outside was baked, but that's probably because it was such a large loaf. Next time I will either cut the recipe in half or make two loaves. Also, I'll add a little more salt which is necessary for the amount of flour I used. Overall I really liked the bread. It was delicious spread with cream cheese for breakfast.

This thread has put Terragusto on my list for my trip to Chicago in a few weeks, but I've been leery because I've heard some bad things about the service and atmosphere (some say it's very loud). Any feedback on those issues?

I have an extra deep single sink and I love it. When I built my house about a year ago, I too had trouble finding a single sink but I'm glad I persevered. I can't imagine trying to wash my large sheet pans and pots in a double sink.

I would LOVE this recipe too. Did you eat it straight up, or use it for sandwiches and such? ← We ate it straight up, mostly. I did toast it and put strawberry jam on it which was good. My dad did cinnamon and sugar, which he said was good. I tastes best warm, so I'd heat it in the oven or toast it very lightly, maybe with some butter. This was the recipe I had written down, I ended up needing a lot more flour, maybe about 4 cups in total. I was really winging it. 2 cups of flour 3/4 cup packed brown sugar 1/2 oats 1 teaspoon salt 2 tablespoons melted butter About 3 1/2 or 4 bananas, mashed 3/4 cup warm milk 2 teaspoons active dry yeast 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon 1 cup chopped walnuts Mix together flour, sugar, oats, cinnamon, salt, and bananas. Melt butter, pour into the mixture. Warm milk to dissolve ADY. Pour dissolved yeast-milk mixture to flour mixture and let sit for a few minutes. Then I used a dough hook to mix together a bit before putting on floured counter and kneading. The dough should achieve a satiny and smoothish texture. When your almost done kneading, knead in walnuts. Put in lightly oiled or greased bowl, cover, and let rise for about 2-2 1/2 hours. (In all honesty, it didn't rise much, but I seem to have bad luck with that. It puffed up real nicely during baking.) Divide the dough as desired and shape. Cover and lets rise for about 1- 1 1/2 hours. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes and sheet pan. Rotate and bake for about 20 more minutes. Side notes: Probably didn't need the oats. I had oats, so I felt like putting them in...haha. I used brown sugar, but granulated would probably be good too. I actually used buttermilk, but I think whole milk would be better. Those are the things I would change. Also, I just looked up banana yeast bread, found some recipes similar to mine. LOL. If you decide you want to try it, please let me know how it turns out! ← Thanks, I will let you know how mine turns out. I'm thinking about using some whole wheat flour and cutting back on the sugar to make it more savory.

I would LOVE this recipe too. Did you eat it straight up, or use it for sandwiches and such?

I have friends who've been and said it was really good, but I haven't dined there yet myself. It looks cool from the outside. They're using some kind of cork motif.

I finally made it to Bourbon Steak with three friends this weekend. First, I have to say that the casino is beautiful, comparable to the newer casinos in Vegas. The restaurant is gorgeous, too, with a small bar and lounge area up front and semi-private tables on the perimeter of the dining room. We were in one of these areas. Each table is enclosed on three sides by cool, almost sculptural metal dividers. A little while after being seated and greeted by our server, we were given an order of duck fat fries with three dipping sauces -- a truffled mayo, barbecue sauce and sweet ketchup -- "compliments of the chef." I think everyone was receiving this, but it was a surprisingly large portion for a freebie. The menu is quite large, with about 12 apps (mostly focused on tuna, crab, and beef) and a handful of salads. The starters we chose included a salad of Bibb lettuce with chunks of crisp slab bacon, blue cheese, avocado and hard-boiled quail egg; crab bisque; a Caesar salad; and crab lettuce cups -- small rounds of iceberg lettuce topped with a dollop of crab meat, a teeny piece of avocado and a round of red onion. This was served with a spicy vinaigrette that was billed on the menu as a "Maurice sauce." None of the apps blew us away, but they were serviceable. The crab lettuce cups were the most disappointing. There wasn't much flavor except from the spicy sauce and the presentation was blah. Next we ordered our entrees and three side dishes to share. There are several cuts of Piedmontese beef, as well as "American" Kobe. Then there is a prime rib, Colorado rack of lamb, short ribs and a Kobe burger, along with a few fish dishes. We stuck with the Piedmontese beef and had a ribeye, filet mignon and two "cap" steaks between us. The cap was explained as a special cut just for Bourbon Steak, and apparently it's the center of the ribeye. We also ordered the truffled mac and cheese, mushroom pot pie and a trio of potato purees -- horseradish, sour cream and onion and lobster. After our entree order was placed, our server brought a small round of cornbread in a cast iron skillet. It was deliciously sweet and buttery. We had been drinking beer (we ordered a round at the bar while we waited for our table to clear), but with the entrees we ordered a couple bottles of Verdad Tempranillo, from Santa Ynez. The wine had an interesting slightly raisiny flavor, but perhaps not enough tannin to pair well with the beef. Oh, I also had a glass of Iron Horse sparkling wine with apps, which was a nice complement to the crab. The steaks were served on a huge white plate, bare except for a roasted shallot and small yellow pepper (I never understand why steakhouses, which almost always serve their steaks a la carte, don't use a smaller plate so it doesn't look so naked!). All of them had an intense mesquite flavor and good depth. The cap steaks tasted very much like the ribeye but there was no bone to gnaw on (so it just depends on whether you like that kind of thing) and the filet was dense and silky. The sides were all good but very, very rich. The truffled mac and cheese didn't have any discernible truffles, but did have the distinctive funky flavor (I'm sure they just used truffle oil or butter). The potato purees were a big hit -- the horseradish especially was a nice complement to the beef. Others loved the mushroom pot pie -- a thick veloute blended with mixed wild mushrooms and served in a pastry crust-topped baking dish -- but I was hitting cream overload by that point and found it to be too much. We were groaning with food overload but still managed to order dessert, beignets with creme brulee and another with chocolate pot de creme (the third choice was Macallan scotch butterscotch pudding), and mini donuts with jasmine cream, caramel sauce and a little cup of chocolate sauce. The beignets and donuts were both appropriately light and crispy, but the beignets didn't have any distinctive flavor and the donuts had an overwhelmingly lemony taste. I also thought the beignets would have been better served with a thinner dipping sauce instead of the small ramekins of creme brulee and pot de creme. Service overall was very attentive, especially considering that we were in this semi-secluded area so it would have been easy for our server to neglect us, and offered nice touches like fresh napkins each time you returned from the restroom. Prices were about he highest I've ever seen in Detroit -- of steaks are $40-$150, apps around $15, sides $11-$16, desserts $10. But for a special occasion I think it's worth it for the overall experience of a cool, luxurious atmosphere, high-end service, and food that isn't necessarily overly creative but tastes good.

I caught the show about mid-way through him making this dish and I wanted to know what was in the peppers, too (they looked delicious). I went on the Food Network web site, but didn't see a recipe. I believe the "stuffing" contained chiles, whole cracked olives, capers, basil, s/p and a good douse of olive oil. There may have been more, though. Oh, and don't forget his genius move of laying a thick slice of bacon on top before roasting.

Funny you should post this, I just made a huge batch of my grandma's pierogis yesterday. Her dough recipe is just 2 eggs, 1 T. sour cream (low fat is fine), 1 tsp. salt and about 6 cups of flour. It worked really well for me. The filling, by the way, was potato and cheese: about 8 mashed potatoes, 1/2 c. of shredded cheddar and 4 oz. of cream cheese. They're a lot of work but so delicious.

It's really difficult to zest a juiced lime, but all she had to do was zest the lime before juicing it! That's like the anti-trick -- it's teaching people a bad habit! There's a lot of waste on cooking shows, and that drives me nuts.

I've made really delicious pasta sauces mixing ricotta and tomato sauce just put over boiled pasta, but I am worried about the baked pasta getting dry. Thanks for the suggestion -- I might try this method instead.

Thanks for reminding me to have extra sauce on-hand. I have made baked pasta in the past that has come out a little dry. Since there's supposed to be a good, browned-cheese crust on the top of this one, though, maybe I'll just add a little extra marinara to the mix and hope that this along with the ricotta keeps it moist. Any advice on how to cook the sausages? Usually I would brown them in a pan before baking with the pasta, but I'm keeping them separate this time. I plan to buy big links and cut them into smaller pieces.

I'm making a cheesy baked pasta dish for a potluck dinner on Thursday. I'm basing the recipe on one from Giada which mixes ziti with marinara and ricotta, and is topped with mozzarella. I'm leaving out the meatballs in her recipe and serving Italian sausage on the side, in consideration of the vegetarians in the group. My plan is to assemble the dish on Wednesday and refrigerate it until it's time to bake it on Thursday. This type of dish should hold ok in the fridge until it's time to bake, shouldn't it? Any recommendations for other similar recipes to look at would be appreciated, too.

Yes, they are. I was just talking to someone who used to always go to Merchants in Grosse Pointe, but since the sale to new owners they've jumped to Gibbs.

Thanks for this great report. I haven't talked to anyone who's been to Saltwater (my brother, a non-foodie, went to Bourbon Steak and liked it) so it's good to hear more about it. I can't wait to try both, and I truly hope Yamauchi doesn't find it necessary to "dumb down" his menu.