Zach Holmes

Being a cook in the restaurant business, I think things like an over- or undercooked steak and not having a fork are perfectly acceptable things to "bother" a server with, the only thing to remember is to be polite and considerately understand that the server has lots of other people to please and she will get to you when she can, if you do that, and she still gives you attitude... I think its also the customers responsibility to tell the server when things aren't up to par, in a busy restaurant I wouldn't expect the server to just notice things like that.

You have a point. Do you know if they promptly took it off the shelves or not?

What did you expect them to say? "We don't give a crap about wholesome foods, but because you complained, we'll take it off the shelves." There's a reason they have lawyers and publicity people write this stuff out. they realize you are a disgruntled customer, and they want to assure you that they are doing their best, they WANT you to continue to shop at their store.

oh my god, how can you choose between so many tasty options??? i would have to add crispy braised pork belly, and i would confit my duck legs, but i'm not that picky

braised lamb cooked rare.... Veal scallopini rare.... as for the lady that ordered the braised lamb rare, i can kinda understand, because there is a local restaurant nearby that describes their grilled beef tenderloin and their seared lamb rack as "braised", but yet, when I ordered it, it was very nicely cooked to medium rare. is this some sort of defenition of "braised" that i didnt learn in culinary school?

does anybody know REALLY how much fat you are foregoing when you choose bscbs over the thighs?? chicken always struck me as pretty low fat to begin with if you trim it. I personally use thighs (bone in and out) for just about every chicken recipe i come across. (i figure the millions of chickens in America that are slaughtered mainly for the breast need some help getting rid of their legs) also, dont they breed chickens to have big boobies and little itty bitty legs, much like supermodels?

I have seen "braised" Beef tenderloin on a couple menus, and always been a bit curious to see what they mean... doesnt seem like the best cut of meat to braise, but who am I to judge....

I have to say c, but with anything, i would try it once

There is really nothing more painful then a burn.. I think I would take three cuts to a bad burn.. Like those kids in high school that cut themselves.. EH, I am not impressed.. Show me a burner, now thats a bad ass... Those freaking pulses of pain, what is that.. OMG, whiskey is the only thing.. Ice pretends to be your friend, but coming off it is twice as worse.. ← i gotta disagree on that one, i would rather get a burn than a cut, because when im working on a busy line on a friday night, the last thing i want to have to do is run to the first aid kit, a burn i can deal with until closing, you cant really do that with a cut.

I got the japanese mandoline, the safety guard is "watch your fingers" printed on the front

Definetely the mandoline, once got six parallel cuts on my palm, one every quarter inch from julienning sweet potato, not fun...

I keep my knives far too sharp for a flimsy piece of nail to stop it, just recently cut off half of my thumbnail along with a sizeable hunk of flesh, one of many I'm afraid. Never said I was coordinated...

I gotta agree on the forchner, i have a 10 in forchner chefs knife that stays sharp with minimal work, also, look for diamond sharpening stones, in my experience, they are far superior.

cinnamon toast crunch, hands down...

On the other end of the spectrum, there is a restaurant where i live that sells russian dumplings, the menu is .. "meat" - $5 "potato" - $5 served with bread, seasoning salt, hot sauce and sour cream, perfect after-bar food

I think in just about every state there is laws governing mandatory breaks, but in most kitchens I have worked in, cooks generally dont take breaks because there is always something you should be doing instead. taking a break would just put you behind. I am a non-smoker, and dont sit down more than 10 min in any 12 hour shift, and its more of my choice than my chef's. but that tends to be more smaller restaurants, the corporate places make their employees take breaks, but then again, they have larger staff, which means more chances to take breaks

Didn't used to like olives, read "the man who ate everything" ate marinated olives at work, like all olives now!

One day at work my fiancee' called me to tell me that yes, she was definetely pregnant, a kitchen is not the best place to be working when hearing such life-changing news. take a leek, a freshly sharpened knife, and my left thumb and you get several stitches, a skin graft and an interesting new shape to my thumb.

I can't think of anything I would rather get as a present than some of the things you mentioned, or also gift certificates to a nice restaurant, because I usually can't afford the really nice places, so it gives me an excuse

Thanks a lot, I have never liked brussels sprouts and have recently been searching for a good way to cook them, i will definetely try out this recipe! I tried separating all of the leaves and sauteeing them in white wine, butter and salt, kinda like wilted spinach that was bearable, but roasted sounds a lot better!

In-laws went to france and bought me French foie gras for my birthday, that has to be my favorite food related present. I've also been known to cook three course meals for my parents and in-laws in their home for christmas, they enjoy that a lot!

I usually do sabayon directly over flame, along with hollandaise, but then again, i laugh in the face of danger! also got a great copper pan at work that does a great job (bowl with handle, wok style)

What drives me nuts is that I work in a fine dining restaurant with six or so bottled waters including voss, pellengreno, etc, and people pay $6 for the liter bottles, and only drink half, waste of money, one for paying for water, two for not drinking said water. also kinda cool because I usually snag the half empty bottle and drink the rest.

This is a great thread, I just found out my fiancee is pregnant, and I'm already getting excited about making a little foodie out of him/her

I really gotta agree about Anthony Bourdains cookbook, I got it and spend the rest of the evening reading the Introduction and a lot of the little blurbs.