Kent Wang

I had a terrific bowl of dong dong ju at Oe Gad Gib in Annandale, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, DC and one of the largest Korean enclaves in America. I haven't found much information about this stuff online other than it's an unfiltered rice wine popular in Korea. There don't even seem to be many producers of it. Where can I buy it? Do restaurants make it themselves? Was is the usual alcohol content? I downed that whole bowl of it myself (about half a liter) and just got a little tipsy.

I just found out about insanewiches. Not all are obscene, some are just, well, insane. My favorite is the Rubix Cube sandwich.

Yes, please. Interesting. How did they get their added flavor? I just assumed agave syrup was fairly uniform. Is it more like honey, where much depends on the way it's grown?

What's the deal with Jamaica rum? Are the ones on the market now not good, or not the same style as used in the olden days? I certainly believe whatever Haus Alpenz is importing is going to be awesome, just curious how it's different.

That's what I expected. However, Flor de Cana white is an aged rum (4 years) and Ed Hamilton above writes that it's filtered to remove the color. Does the filtering remove flavor aspects as well? So if an aged and filtered rum is a white rum, is a lightly aged, unfiltered "amber" going to taste similar? I suspect not, but just curious about how this works. Reading Jimbo's treatise on what is an agricole, I find his arguments quite compelling. He and Ed Hamilton appear to be completely at odds about this, Mr. Hamilton being on the side of only Rhum Agricole DOC Martinique being rhum agricole. I'm not an expert on this at all, but I'm inclined to agree with Jimbo's definition. And he categorizes Barbancourt, 10 Cane, Oronoco and Charbay as agricole. I have 10 Cane and like it quite a bit, but it's quite expensive. Jimbo says Oronoco is not molasses. I'll see if I can get a special order through Austin Wine Merchant. Have you had any luck with special orders through Spec's?

It seems like such a waste to just toss out the yolks. There are quite a few desserts that call for egg yolk, creme brulee perhaps the most prominent. If you're saving at home, how long do yolks keep, keeping in mind that they've been handled by your hands (assuming you separate yolks by hand, and not with yolk separator) and possibly broken. I've never seen a bar do it, but they go through so many eggs that they could either be pumping out tons of creme brulee -- maybe even make them free bar snacks -- or sell or donate to a nearby bakery.

La Favorite and Barbancourt White are the two agricoles I see all the time at bars, but we can't get those here. Is the St. James Amber similar, or is it, um, more amber? What would be the closest approximation: 10 Cane, Charbay, Oronoco?

Jimbo, thanks for the link to your reviews. Very informative. Your treatise on what rhum agricole is excellent as well. Is St. James a good rhum to try? I'm thinking about the amber for mixing. The extra old and hors d'age for sipping, but is Zacapa a better value?

Thank you for your humorous writing. There's a thread on fish eyes. Did you take siestas during your trip? How good is your Spanish? Good enough to get around places?

Are there big successful chefs that have an unusual food dislike, like a chef that doesn't like runny eggs, a sushi chef that doesn't like uni, or someone that just doesn't like seafood or shellfish? Would it affect their cooking? Would they make a dish even if it included one of their disliked ingredients?

What exactly does a liquor importer do? I recently found out about Haus Alpenz's magnificent portfolio (Rothman & Winter, Velvet Falernum, Dolin vermouths, Hayman's Old Tom Gin, and many more). While I was awed by the list I wonder why someone hadn't already come along and started importing all these awesome products. What are the barriers to entry in this field? If I read about some obscure liqueur online that seems to be getting rave reviews, how hard would it be for me to start importing it? I'm sure it varies greatly from country to country, and even state to state. I plan to be moving to Shanghai next year and my greatest fear is not having access to all the great products I can get in the US. I wouldn't mind taking matters into my own hands and starting an import company, though I understand doing this kind of business in China involves knowing the right people.

Just found it back on the shelves at Spec's. Looks like Haus Alpenz is importing it now.

St. Elizabeth just hit Spec's here in Texas. Wow, it tastes great. I could totally see it in eggnog. Lion's Tail is pretty good. Any other recommendations?

Most food menus with cocktail pairings I see are scams by restaurants with an ambitious (but usually poor) cocktail program. Not that it's not possible, but I would say it's very difficult.

I think the best tacos are at Abarrotes Mexicanos -- they actually just recently changed their name to something else that I can't remember but it's still the same staff. For high end, try La Condesa.

I think it's good, but not great. I'm not familiar with the other new restaurants opening up around the country but it does surprise me a bit that Bon Appetit puts it in the top ten. Their commitment to local ingredients is great but I find many of the dishes boring. I've been three times and hope to post a more detailed review soon. I think the Fearless Critic review of Olivia and rating is fairly accurate, which I had some input in writing.

Going back a bit, what were your overall thoughts about Singapore? I had heard from someone that the food there is boring compared to the rest of Southeast Asia, but your report looks pretty good to me.

So, for cooking noodles, if I want to avoid heating up three quarts in an upright pot, could I use a deep casserole that could hold two quarts? The casserole would be wide enough so that the noodles can lay in there flat and be submerged. I actually tried this with a pyrex casserole on the stove and the whole thing shattered after being on the fire for 15 minutes. That was quite a mess to clean up. I'm not even sure why it happened, but I would try this with a metal casserole in the future.

As far as the noodles (or long pasta) go, I like them thick. My favorite is Pastificio Romita's laganelle which is 9 mm wide, wider than fettuccine. Pappardelle, which is even wider, is nice once in a while but laganelle seems to be ideal for me. For short pasta, I like fusilli the most because I think it holds the most sauce. Unfortunately Romita's fusilli is not available at Central Market. They do have the penne classico, which I like, but I would prefer the rigate (with ridges) more because it holds more sauce. I also fear that penne and elbows will retain more of the cooking water because of they holes they have while fusilli would more easily allow the water to be shaken off. These days, I only buy the laganelle and penne, in about equal proportion. Just so we're on the same page, Wikipedia has a nice pictorial guide to the names of the varieties of pasta shapes.

Is it a straight pasta weight to water ratio or does shape play a factor? I always use three quarts of water in a big pot to cook half a pound of fettuccine but will use a smaller two quart pot for the same amount of penne, because I figure the noodles need more space because they're long while penne doesn't. Does that make sense?

Would that be considered kaiseki?

That sounds a lot like Sushi Yasuda in New York, which is also all blonde wood, except tempura instead of sushi. The ascetic style and how revelatory it was sounds just like my experience at Yasuda. $120 does seem rather pricey for not a lot of food (compared to Yasuda where $100 could get you a lot of fish at lunch), but I suppose that's Tokyo. But if Yasuda can work in New York, maybe something like this can too. Ippudo opened recently, so maybe more true Japanese restaurants are on the way.

On my way to Shanghai, I have a 4 hour layover at Seoul Incheon airport, from 5:20 to 9:30 am. Is there any good food in the airport, or possibly near it, that could be had? I realize it's rather early in the morning.

Wow, is the wait for the ramen place always that long?

With the fish head curry, did you eat the eyes and brains?