Fresser

Don't ask me why, but co-workers give me funny looks when I dunk oatmeal bread into my Diet Cherry Coke. I can't eat donuts or pastries due to diabetes, so I make up for it by submerging the occasional waffle or roll into my sody pop. This gets me wondering: what other items to eGulleteers like to dunk? And do people think you're weird for submerging your snacks?

Ah reckon we could serve Blovie some hush puppies, slaw and other veggie fixin's...

You can ride shotgun with me, Mel. ← Only if you take your Dave the Cook white stretch limo with the coolers for the martinis ... and don't start the fare meter until after we hit the SC border ... ← Don't forget about the Fressermobile: my slick PT Cruiser comes complete with a fold-out tailgate tray in the trunk.

Hola y bienvenidos de Fresser, el gran comedor! Juanito, you should contact Col. Klink. He's our resident meat-smoker and sausage maven!

Voracious Varmint, Actually, the meat-vs-dairy conflict is so bred into me that I couldn't stomach beef sauteed in butter. As I understand, before milk was pasteurized, it was dangerous to mix meat with milk, so that apprehension may still be with me.

Solly's Burgers in Milwaukee serves up grilled burgers with a "(G)ood heaping tablespoon of good Wisconsin butter" dolloped on top. Frankly, the idea of putting butter on beef makes me shiver (as it's a no-no in kosher cooking), but some people seem to enjoy it. Has anyone been there?

What about the Rolling Meadows' branch of Magnums? Are they boarding up as well? Any bets on who will take over the Magnums site?

Be sure to watch for sightings of eGullet's own Inventolux (Chef Homaro) and Hobbes (sous chef Eric).

Some happy gardeners at work gave me a basket of green tomatoes but I'm unsure how to prepare them. Any suggestions for Chez Fresser?

My chum Puddin' Buns managed a McDonalds for many years, and he preached the virtue of "Clean as you go." This system works well for me, as just yesterday I made a gargantuan pot of spaghetti sauce and managed to clean the entire stove and counter just as I put the sauce up to simmer. How do you folks handle the fun cleaning chores?

Don't you work at one of the placed mentioned, Katie? I thought you toiled at Striped Bass...

The mohel should be arriving shortly to welcome you as well.

What if the facility in question were a kosher meatpacker and asked employees not to bring in any outside food? Would this be allowed? I'd like to think that a kosher meatpacker would provide meals for employees who thus could not bring their own. But this issue boils down to how an employer can regulate what is or is not brought into the workplace.

Because the egocentric NYT food writer drips with conceit. This reflects the stereotypical (though I don't think typical) NYC attitude that believes Manhattan is the center of the universe.

Now here's something handy I learned in high school biology: the human tongue can only distinguish four different tastes: sweet, salty, sour & bitter. The rest of our sense of "taste" comes from our sense of smell. This is why we can't taste much when congested with a cold.

I'm diabetic, so I'm under doctor's orders not to fast for Yom Kippur. This makes "breaking the fast" something of a non-event for me. What do other diabetics do at this time? Join the noshing brigade in spirit?

I used to watch Julia Child when I was a teenager and could only cook toast. All the cooking shows out now owe Julia a huge debt. When I heard this news, my first thought was of Dan Aykroyd dressed as Julia, blurting "Save the liver! Save the liver! It will make a nice pate!" Anyone who was spoofed on SNL in the '70's truly is an icon.

Just after Mel Gibson pulls a jumper off a building ledge in "Lethal Weapon." Danny Glover confronts him in a garage and, after a long exchange, blurts, "You're not trying to draw psycho pension--you really ARE crazy!" "I...I...I'm hungry. I'm gonna go get somethin' to eat."

Ronnie, I will be speaking with the owner and also the manager of the Skokie store about your incidents. You're right about the breakneck pace of the place--they're probably working BEYOND their own capacity to fill take-out orders properly, and no one should have to double-check a take-out order before leaving. If you want to PM me with your work phone # and address, I'm certain that either Mo or Falah will contact you either to comp your office a meal or otherwise "make things right."

Hot Doug himself just e-mailed me and said that "(N)egotiations are in the works." He'll be posting himself here shortly.

Hot Doug's website says that they're looking for a new site and hope to be open soon. I did send an e-mail to Doug himself on behalf of the hungry Heartlanders saying that we all await his return and send our best wishes. And, the good cyber-fresser that I am, I sent Doug the link to our message thread. Maybe we'll hear straight from the Sausagemeister himself.

Niv, you ignorant slut . . . I'm Fresser and you're not!

This means you're at Quenchers, NeroW. I used to go there with a former girlfriend, Diana Banana. Oddly, Nero herself lives on the same street as Ms. Banana, just fifty feet away. I learned this upon driving Nero home in my slick PT Cruiser from an eGullet gathering. This is just too cosmic.

I could never understand the appeal of Hackney's either. Flaccid, flavorless black bread surrounds a patty that I found to be too finely ground and not flavorful. Yes, they slap a slab of raw onion on top of the burger, but neither the bread nor the burger have any texture or, to my mind, taste. Local carnivores can find a much better burger at Top-Notch Beefburger Shop at 95th and Leavitt in the Beverly neighborhood of Chicago. The interior reminds me of Arnold's on the old "Happy Days" tv show: orange vinyl booths with wood paneling and a long lunch counter. But Top-Notch grinds U.S. Choice beef fresh daily for their burgers, which they grill up and serve to generations of South Siders. Their burgers have a nice, coarse grind and wonderfully beefy flavor. Plus, everything on the menu costs under $7.00. Holly Moore should stop by soon...

Grant Achatz and Big Mac progenitor Holly Moore are opening a chain of "Sandwiches You Will Like" sub shops.