Kent Wang

Welcome to Austin. Might I suggest: Nubian Queen Lola's Quality Seafood Sam's BBQ Casino El Camino A search on this forum should turn up more information about each of those.

A few weeks ago I had an excellent cocktail at Death & Co called the Celine Fizz. Based on the menu, and a bit of trial and error on my part, this is my guess at the recipe: 1.5 Plymouth 1 grapefruit juice .5 lemon juice .5 St. Germain 1 egg white orange bitters The aromatic character of the grapefruit really complements the St. Germain. You can also make this without the egg white but I think the fizz is particularly good at amplifying the aromatics of the drink.

Yes, but you don't want to risk having those bottles break. No matter how well you've wrapped them, baggage handlers have a good chance of breaking glass. I know several people that have bottles of wine break and stain all their clothes. What I do is bring plastic liquid containers. Then you can bring whatever you want in your checked baggage.

What if you braise the whole bird in soy sauce? That's a common treatment for chicken and duck, though you'd need a really big pot.

I think I can say for the entire state of Texas excluding Veritas in College Station, and Beaver's in Houston -- both helmed by eGullet members, btw -- there's not a single cocktail bar that is even as good as the bar menu at WD-50, Gramercy Tavern or The Modern in New York, much less Death & Co, Pegu, etc. I haven't been to that many New York restaurants but extrapolating from the places I have been I'd imagine there's around 50 places in New York that are better than here. This is why I don't go out for cocktails in Texas -- excluding the two aforementioned bars of course; I make them at home.

The #50 New York cocktail bar -- probably a decent menu at an upscale restaurant -- will be better than any bar in Dallas -- unless something new has popped up lately -- and really, that's true for most of Middle America. I would avoid the cocktails altogether and stick to wine or whisky straight.

Curry Ya was great. We went there for dinner but then went next door to Rai Rai Ken. That was not so great. Soggy noodles and mediocre broth. Definitely doesn't compare to Ippudo. I think our best meal was at Sushi Yasuda. I've never had sushi like this. It was a great pleasure to be served by Yasuda and chat with him. WD-50 was good for the money. Perry St was another great deal. Grand Sichuan, lots of dishes we can't get in Austin even though Asia Cafe here is pretty damn good. Thank you, Mitch, and everyone else in the thread for all the tips.

Still recovering from the weekend. Drinks went over very well with those that were interested, especially the Elderflower Sour. Several people had 5 drinks, while quite a few abstained completely. Only 50 people showed instead of 150, so my friend now has a bunch of leftover booze. 50 people was also a very easy load for one person to handle, though I had my girlfriend assisting so we could take turns. I feel that I could easily handle 150 if I had another assistant. Thanks all for the tips. I got most everything from BQE.

Great, I'll order that. My girlfriend and I will be here this Thursday (today) through Monday. I've been to New York before but my girlfriend hasn't. I've already been to JG, Momofuku Ssam Bar, Katz's, Ippudo, Dim Sum Go Go, Chinatown Brasserie (thanks for the tip, Mitch). We currently have planned Friday lunch at wd-50 ($75 for 7 courses) and Monday lunch at Sushi Yasuda ($35 special). I'd like to keep the other meals at under $30 person, pre-tax, pre-tip (or about $40 total). Currently I have planned: Otto Perry St (brunch) Tentative: Szechuan Gourmet Grand Sichuan Momofuku Noodle Bar -- might be stretching the budget a bit GROM gelato Any other recommendations? Thanks!

Thank you all for the suggestions. I think I'm going to restrict the menu to what I have above, possibly add mulled cider, for the sake of ease of service and minimize having left over bottles. I still need a recommendation as to where to purchase the liquor.

Just curious, how do the American ones rate against each other and the world? I've been reading a lot that Alinea is number one in the country. How does wd-50 rank? It's not really a big deal, but I'm going to wd-50 this weekend and would like to know how it compares.

Any drinks with cider? There's also the non-alcoholic, non-sparkling cider you can buy the supermarket by the gallon. To make mulled cider, do you just add spices and alcohol, presumably rum? There's a brand of cider here that already has spices in it, so I just added some dark rum and heated it up. Tastes pretty good. It could probably use some more spices though, more cinnamon, nutmeg, maybe some bitters too.

Will do. I have reservations this Friday. Will report back soon.

Dang, not only are my numbers out of date, my math was just wrong. So that's actually 5 plates for $70. But wd-50's 9 courses for $75 is pretty competitive, assuming it's any good. I also went to JG in March already.

For that many people, I'll just do plastic cups. I know it's a real shame but I think people will deal. This crowd is not too hoity-toity anyway. OK, I take it back. The tequila and mezcal drinks are my favorites at Death & Co. Last time I did this I had the El Diablo and Margarita, the El Diablo being the biggest hit of the night. But I think I'll keep tequila out this time as I want to minimize the number of spirits, and use rum instead. The D&Co website lists as cognac, rum (light?), peach brandy, lemon and soda. Could I swap the cognac for more rum, and the peach brandy for Marie Brizard apry?

JG weekday lunch is $28 for two plates, $12 for each additional plate, so that's $72 for four plates -- if memory serves me well. EMP sounds ok but I think I'd rather splurge for wd-50. Their kind of cuisine is really something that I can't get back home. I'm definitely leaning towards wd-50, but I'd like to hear if others have tried this lunch tasting menu.

I'm not a professional bartender but I will have the assistance of several barbacks. I will be printing a cocktail menu. People are pretty impressed by the menu itself and rarely do they ever ask for anything off of it. Andy, thanks for the recipe recommendations. I'll have to try some them out. I think punches could also help round out the menu. Any recommendations?

Has anyone tried this? Is it a good value, say compared to Momofuku Noodle/Ssam, or Jean-Georges weekday lunch ($72 gets you four plates). I realize those might not be the most fair comparisons, but it's what I'm trying to decide between.

My friend is flying me up to bartend for his birthday party on 26 October at his loft in Brooklyn. There will be about 125 people. I suppose the responsible thing to do would have been to point him to one of the many eminently more qualified bartenders in the city, but I can't pass up a free trip to the cocktail capital of the world. I plan to have a limited menu of 6-8 drinks and pre-batch them, so all I have to do is pour, shake and strain. Currently I have planned for the menu: Elderflower Sour: gin, St. Germain, lemon juice Maple Old Fashioned: rye, maple syrup, bitters The Darb: gin, apricot brandy, dry vermouth, lemon juice Manhattan Martini I want to minimize the amount of different ingredients I have to buy, so currently the only two base spirits are rye and gin. I could probably add rum, but want to avoid tequila as it's expensive and not very versatile. Other than the Manhattan and the Martini, the "special" drinks are definitely on the sweet side, and are those that I know to be hits at cocktail parties I've given at home. I still need to think of a few other drinks and would appreciate your help. I've also been asked to include one or two non-alcoholic cocktails, I guess so that the non-drinkers won't feel left out. Any ideas? I have a bunch of other questions and would appreciate your advice: With an estimate of 2-3 drinks a person, and each drink being 3 oz of booze, that's 30-45 750mL bottles of liquor. I've done a party of 30 people, but this is a lot bigger. What if I have too many leftovers? Are there liquor stores that would accept returns of unopened bottles -- I know it sounds unlikely. And where should I buy them from? Low prices on 1.75L bottles, and maybe delivery would be nice. The more obscure stuff I can buy from Lenell's and bitters I can bring with me. Where can I buy fresh squeezed lemon and lime juice? I don't want to be squeezing a bunch of lemons. Does Fairway have them? I could also bring them from Central Market here in Austin.

Wow, I can't believe I mis-remembered it. I just made the Elder Fashion the proper way for the first time. You definitely get the elderflower full blast, and the floral characteristics seem to linger longer, but I think the Elderflower Sour is a more balanced drink with the lemon rounding out both the gin and the St. Germain.

To me the ultimate St. Germain cocktail is the one I had at Death & Co., also my first encounter with St. Germain, called the Elder Fashion: gin, St. Germain, lemon juice. I'm not sure what proportions but I make it as: 2 gin .5 St. Germain .5 lemon juice It's called the Elder Fashion as a pun on the Old Fashioned, but on its own it's not a very attractive name. I've been calling it the Elderflower Sour. What do you think? I like the rhyming. I think Islay scotch is just too smoky, and doesn't mix well. So I tried using mezcal instead: 2 Monte Alban mezcal .75 St. Germain .5 lemon juice I call it the Desert Flower. This works much better than scotch and has become quite a hit with my friends.

I'm referring to the common dim sum dish. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tofu_skin_roll http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Tofuskinroll.jpg I have a pretty good idea how to make the filling, but am uncertain as to which bean curd skins I should buy. There are so many different kinds at the local Chinese supermarket. Some are dried, some are frozen.

I did Audrey Saunder's Earl Grey infused gin. Of course, one should get a nice tea for this. So easy and delicious. I recall hearing one of the barmen at Pegu, a British chap named Alistair, I believe, declare the Earl Grey Marteani the cocktail of the decade. I find it hard to disagree.

Is it acceptable to traditionally minded folks to puree the vegetables in a gumbo? That is, you cook with the trinity but then take them out, puree, and add back into the soup? There are some restaurants here in Austin that do this. I must say that I rather dislike it as I enjoy the texture of unmolested vegetables.

Do you put the pineapple in a blender before steeping? Do you use white or dark rum?