Kent Wang

I went to a restaurant in a Buddhist monastery in China that served the most delicious imitation dishes. I was quite young, but the few dishes I remember are imitation duck where the skin was pressed and crispy and even had the characteristic bumps from the plucked feathers. The duck meat was of another kind of soy product that very closely imitated the texture and appearance of roasted duck. There was also imitation pork intestine that was very tender and less chewy than real pork intestine. I like pork intestine a great deal, but I think the facsimile was even better!

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The Driskill Grill is at the absolute pinnacle of high-end dining in Austin. A lot of this is due not just to the cooking but to the location, interiors and service but the food does live up to the price. David Bull was recognized as one of Food & Wine magazine's Best New Chefs of 2003. A video interview in which the chef is surprisingly modest. The shots of the dishes should give you an idea of the kind of innovative cuisine he serves. His bio from The Driskill website.

How do restaurants get away with serving steak tartare then?

Very very true. Ask around on the Texas forums and everybody will agree. The Whole Foods flagship is by far the biggest grocery store I have ever been in, about the size of a Sam's Club, but I'd still rather shop at the smaller Central Market. Central Market is indeed more about quality and less about "wholeness". Sadly it will be very many years before Central Market ever expands outside of Texas, as its parent company HEB has chosen to stay within Texas (and Louisiana now, I think) for the time being.

I think you are right. If you've ever been to the Whole Foods flagship store in Austin you will get full dose of their Whole propaganda. Some people like it, I find it disgusting. Maybe I will go later today and take some pictures. You know, they even have a skating rink on the roof! How ridiculous for a city as hot as Austin.

Does Texas count? Central Texas-style BBQ is always done in a pit. http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=74584

I don't know how easy it is to break into these restaurants, but I was told by Chase (can't remember last name), the current owner of Portabla, who used to work at the Driskill that they only have four chefs there. I did know of a guy who just walked into Aquarelle (best French in my opinion, Austin Chronicle restaurant of the year 2005, not too daring) with no experience and was given a line cook job. Hope this info helps.

I was disappointed by Wink when I went. Not only was the food sub-par in general, it was also hardly cutting edge. Seared dayboat scallop on risotto, followed by foie gras, followed by venison is a fairly conservative menu. I think the Driskill Grill (New American) and Uchi (Japanese) are the two most innovative high-end restaurants in town. Hudson's on the Bend is also very high-end, specializing in game. Those three restaurants all offer very unique cooking worthy of their high prices.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure she's referring to rou4 song1, the minced and dried pork shreds. And rou4 is Mandarin for any meat, not just pork, right?

This sounds incredible! Don't you think the abalone would've gone bad in the decades it's been in the freezer? Why was the venison dish so expensive?

Aren't there much more "fragrant" cheeses than epoisse? Or maybe the one epoisse I had in the US -- one that I liked a great deal -- was just on the mild side.

Drinking a mimosa (with fresh orange and pineapple juice) to celebrate my 21st birthday.

Both.

I was chatting with my fishmonger and he told me that what will be really exciting in the next few decades are the advances in aquaculture. He predicts that, maybe not in his lifetime, but maybe within mine (I'm 20) that we will be able to farm nearly every species that's out there. He thinks the demand for seafood will steadily rise, and technology and industry will step up to the plate with new aquaculture techniques. He also cited the example, one which I have not been able to verify on Google, that there are some operations now that are even farming tuna by corralling them in nets. What do you think the future has in store?

I went to Pao's with my parents and had spicy beef tendon, duck tongue and ham hock tendon. When I go to Chinese restaurants, I really prefer more exotic stuff like that. Pao's Chinese menu is very extensive, and along with China Palace, have menus with a lot more depth than T&S and Din Ho. Maybe it's because I've been to each of those restaurants nearly a dozen times now, but the menus at T&S and Din Ho just no longer excite me. For a conservative meal with Western friends, they are good choices; although said friends are often very satisfied with those meals and I am pleased to have introduced them to a taste of traditional Chinese cuisine, I'm a little bored with getting the same old same old.

Maybe it's because I have the luxury of not working a 9-to-5 (for now anyway), but I rather enjoy a glass of wine in the morning. Usually I'll wake up, have a light breakfast and then sit at my computer reading news and checking eGullet with a glass of wine. Something light seems to do the trick, like a chardonnay or champagne, though sometimes I'll just finish up the bottle I opened the night before. What do you folks like?

Most of what you guys have posted already. It seems like I'll nibble nearly everything. Marinated roasted tomatoes that I -- nominally -- use for salads. Salmon roe.

Yay! I think Texas is still living in the past. Totally agree with what you're saying, but do you think consumers will be able to enjoy slightly lower pricing, even factoring in the shipping cost?

I'm referring to ingredients that are not usually eaten as is, that usually go into a recipe. My biggest weakness is crab meat. I sometimes have to buy twice the amount I need for a recipe because I just can't help eating the stuff straight out the container. I used to eat a lot of chocolate chips until I stopped buying them specifically for that reason.

Yes! Especially for ice cream where there is a lot of spoon-licking.

Maybe the ice was preserved from the winter, packed in sawdust. This was used as rudimentary form of air conditioning.

Yoghurt and salads.

Awesome, I always love Chinese food legends.

I learned how to make a salad. I learned that I like Western chef's knives over Chinese cleavers.