Simon_S
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Posts posted by Simon_S
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Of course, for me a sandwich lives and dies on the quality of the bread, but that's another story.
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Working at a desk in an office, many lunches are of the sandwich from a sandwich bar variety. Whenever I go into one of those places, I end up ordering a sandwich with at least 3 fillings. Every time. Recently, it dawned on me that I don't like sandwiches this way, and when I make one at home, I rarely have anything more than one filling.
Is the day of the simple ham sandwich, chicken sandwich, or cheese sandwich a thing of the past? Am I alone in liking a simple sandwich?
Si
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Hmmm, I don't know what you'd call the way I do it. How about the "matrix" method. Starting at the left I eat a patch maybe 8 kernels down and 8 kernels across, continue across to right before hitting carriage return and repeating.
Random corn on the cob eating? I can't understand that at all!!!
Si
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This is really very depressing news. I've nothing against Aya per se, and the old Ayumi-ya was certainly a loss when it closed in Blackrock, but surely we can expect better than this. As you say, it paints a dreary picture of dining in Dublin. Will enough care? No.
Si
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We leave stuff overnight a lot (roasted meats, leftover chilli, curries etc.) and I'm not too worried about it. Bear in mind, plenty of other countries in the world don't have the same rigid approach to refrigeration that seems the norm in the US. Having said that, I don't live in an especially hot climate, and I imagine I'd think differently if I did.
I do certainly think there's merit in the "iron stomach through conditioning" argument, but I'm no doctor...
Si
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ljr, this is a great report. I think Pierre is a very talented sommelier, and to be honest, I'd sooner have some more obscure (but well-chosen) wines than to see the standard-issue winelist (Lynch-Bages seems to be the fashionable high-end of choice all over the city...) In any case, when given free reign I find Pierre is very good at matching, and I've found the wine service to be very generous.
I love the shouting at the commis incident. Sounds like Dylan McGrath alright!!
Si
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I didn't see the review in the Sunday Indo (I wouldn't lower myself to such levels) but a friend called me to read out the article over the phone. From what I heard, Lucinda came across worse than the chef. It all sounded very petty to me.
To be honest, I'm a bit sad by all the negative press Dylan McGrath seems to be getting. Obviously given my previous experiences there I'm now somewhat biased, but I think it's a shame that when somebody comes along and tries to do something creative, everyone feels compelled to jump in with snide comments. The usual comment is the tired old "emperor's new clothes", which to me makes very little sense. The simple truth of the matter is that Mint has served me the best-tasting food I've ever eaten in Ireland. End of.
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Hmm, it's really not a good sign that the numbers in this thread are way lower than I anticipated. Even a cheapy local place for dinner on a Tuesday will easily run to $100 for 2 here. Of course, that's partly due to the current exchange rates, but even still.
I think I'll decline from admitting the most I've spent, but it was in Louis XV in Monaco, the day I got engaged, and I don't regret one cent!
Si
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Of course you get better service if you order a $2,000 bottle of wine!
<smacking head> So that's what I've been doing wrong </smacking head>
Let me get this straight: Successful German restaurateur eats at successful US restaurant, feels his approach to running a restaurant is superior, tells a somewhat embellished tale of the experience to prove his point, and on this basis we can now definitively state that European dining is better than US dining?
The OP may indeed have decided that the European dining model suits them better, and on a personal level I may entirely agree, but we don't need to get our knickers in the proverbial knot because one restaurateur disses another, do we? There's nothing all that unusual on that score!
As FG has pointed out, the reasons are legion why there are multiple sittings in the US, and frequently (not always) only one in Europe. The real question is: do you *actually* feel more rushed dining at a US restaurant. Have you ever *actually* been put out of a high-end restaurant in the US before you were ready to leave? My admittedly very limited experience suggests that this is a rare problem indeed.
Si
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I've not tried that, Simon. It's not at all tempting either!
You haven't lived.
Don't tell me you could actually *afford* to buy ice-pops during the summer? Back in my day we were lucky to have the black paint to draw the shoes on our feet, this was all fields, etc.
Actually, joking aside, at various points my brother and I tried to freeze pretty much everything. If you think frozen concentrated orange squash is a bad idea, you wouldn't have been impressed with frozen soda stream mixes such as "Dracula's Blood" and "Witches Brew".
Si
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danf - I defy you to find me a British person, who hasn't tried Squash straight, jut to see what it was like.
...or tried freezing it to make an ice-pop.
Si
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If I had worked full time I would have made 1600€ which is nothing to write home about for working more than 40 hours a week.
But Paris is such a cheap place to live....
It might sound crass but the possibility of more money is a highly motivating.Hey you won't hear any argument from me. I work for a hedge fund, and I ain't here for the good of my health!
Thanks for sharing the info.
My thoughts on this are somewhat mixed. The lack of motivation that Felice talks about is a genuine problem in many tip-less markets. However, what irritates me about the US model is that the option to *not* tip (if the service is genuinely bad) doesn't seem to exist. Here, I'll tip within a fairly large range (0-20%) depending on how well I feel I've been treated. From what I can tell, in the US you pretty much have to tip anyway, but then make your feelings felt by either not returning, or by talking to a manager. It seems to me that the tip is, slowly but surely, becoming a fixed extra charge.
One other point alluded to above is that I think it's just as bad for tourists to over-tip where small/no tips are the norm as it is for tourists to under-tip in the US. I feel very strongly about this.
Si
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But all in all I really prefer the US system.
I'm somewhat surprised to hear this. May I ask why? Is it that you can ultimately earn more under the US system, or that for you, cash outweighs benefits such as health insurance/paid vacation/whatever? Genuinely interested...
Si
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It should also be pointed out that, unlike in the US, it's not at all necessary to tip, and nobody will be surprised or think ill of you if you don't. In fact, in normal pubs, where you walk up to the bar, order your drink and take it back to your seat with you, I feel strongly about encouraging American tourists not to tip. While that perhaps feels weird to those accustomed to it, I think it's no different to observing local customs anywhere else. I would hate to see it get to the stage where we're expected to tip barstaff a la the US model. If you decide to go with the "whatever you're having yourself" option, it is certainly not expected every round or anything of the sort!
Of course, if lounge staff come over to your table, take your order, go to the bar for you, and bring your drinks back to you, it is more appropriate to tip. That very much depends on the kind of pub you're in.
Si
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Hmmm, I wouldn't be able to let this one go and leave with my tail between my legs, but similarly the "all guns blazing" approach rarely does anyone any good. If you really can't get in and talk at a time when you'll be surrounded by sober people, would it be worth handing the owner-bartender a note. I'd lay it on very thick, saying that you have never knowingly stiffed a bartender, would be mortified if you ever discovered you had *unknowingly* stiffed a bartender, and that you are, in fact, mortified that they have seen fit to remove your tab facilities. Play it nicey nicey, guilt them into thinking they were probably the assholes, that you're cut from the highest moral cloth, not to mention a good drinker, and you should be back on good footing.
To answer your other question, I think if you set up a tab you should be able to order from any bartender once you tell them the tab details. If they screw it up that's their business.
Si
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the completely unscripted, experienced huntsman
Love it!
Remind me, is this repeated? One of my colleagues mentioned that they did a taste test of "natural" foie vs force-fed. I didn't see it, and I'm wondering was it in any way sensitively handled. I trust the goose-a-la-gavage won?
Si
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2,4-dithiapentane
Yeah, and there's truffle oil in it too!
Actually I was going to mention this coz I was somewhat surprised at TD's apparent ecstasy. I've had that foam and very much liked it, but I was in no doubt that truffle oil was involved. I'm not as sensitive as yourself, Corinna, but I thought Doorley would mention it.
It's interesting that TD notes that the meat was cooked perfectly. I was talking to someone recently (whose judgement I trust) who felt the meat (esp duck) was too well-done. I can't remember my own experiences. Certainly though, the fish has always been spot-on.
Si
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Tom Doorley penned a fairly glowing review of Thornton's in Saturday's Irish Times. For those who may have missed it, he starts by saying that the cooking seemed less fussy than some previous meals there, and then goes on to describe an array of dishes, including some that I recognise myself from recent visits. For example:
impeccable John Dory lying in a shallow pool of - here my vocabulary lets me down - a cross between a foam and a cream that was pure essence of truffle. It produced a sense of near ecstasy.Yes indeed, TD, I enjoyed something similar and had a similar response. He mentions later that the red snapper arrived cooked "absolutely à point", which again was our experience there with various fish dishes. He even goes as far as to say it was an impeccable lunch, praise indeed from TD.
Perhaps the most interesting part of the report is his comment that lunch was "exceptionally good value". As he points out, that will come as a surprise to a lot of people. I wonder will this review translate to an increase in bums on seats there at lunchtime. Can't hurt!
Si
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I think "Summer Wine" is the name of the song. It was recently covered by the Corrs and Bono.
Si
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thanks for your report!
Pegu Club is a disaster on the weekends (through no fault of their own). for whatever reason it's on the B&T/weekend warrior go-to list...and it's filled with vodka tonic orderers on Friday and Saturday evenings (although it has to be great for the bottom line!). the thing about NY is that most professional drinking is done during the week...thus the famous (albeit not quite true) line that "NY'ers don't go out on the weekends"
That makes perfect sense. It certainly didn't have anything like the atmosphere described here on a regular basis. We did well to go to D&C on a Thursday in that case. Result!
Si
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I've been meaning to finish this report properly for days, but the opportunity hasn't arisen. Now I have 15 minutes before Ramsay's F Word starts, so let's get on with it...
After EMP we finally made to Pegu Club, something I had looked forward to for months. We needn't have bothered, filled as it was with marauding students packed 4-deep at the bar. When we made it to the front, I asked the barman what he'd recommend for a thirsty Irishman. "A Guinness", he responded. I laughed, ordered a Pegu Club, drank it, didn't especially like it, and we left. The barman was right! Death & Co. was definitely much more my cup of tea.
On Sunday, the day of our flight home, we had linner at Spice Market. It wasn't on our itinerary, but we'd gone to the Meatpacking district for a look, we were hungry, fancied Asian food, and there it was. Starters were good, mains less so, and on balance the meal was no more than competent. Not really a fitting end to NY, but them's the breaks. To be honest, at that stage I couldn't have faced anything more serious. Unfortunately, I could taste the garlic all the way back to Dublin, which was no fun for me, and I'm sure was no fun for the people sitting near us on the plane!
On our final morning, we went to the Bodies Exhibition at South Street Seaport. I spent quite a bit of time in the "obesity" section, looking at various slices, cross sections and organs of obese former humans. Given the tightness of my jeans by that point, and the memories of the uninhibited gluttony of the previous few days, I decided, and Hazel very much agreed, that all the high-level dining on the trip was really too much for us. We're not the robust gastronomes we like to think we are, and certainly not up there with the Daniels and BryanZs of this world. My cap is doffed to those guys!! I think your perceptions are definitely changed by having so much food in a short space of time. As pointed out above, small things take on extra significance, and aside from this, it's somewhat disheartening to go to really nice, expensive restaurants and not be hungry. Having said all this, I regret nothing!!!
To close then, you've probably already surmised that we had a really great time, and that there were quite a few notable culinary highlights, and very few lowlights. I feel compelled to point out that, despite the New Yorker reputation for rudeness, we encountered nothing but friendliness at all times, from restaurant staff, from fellow restaurant guests, from people on the street, even from cab drivers on one or two occasions. It was a pleasure.
Another random thought is that, despite my fears about the whole tipping culture (and me getting it all drastically wrong) it all worked very smoothly. My sense is that, while 20% may be expected, it is nonetheless very much appreciated when given.
One thing I learned on this trip, and I don't know how much interest this will be to people on the NY forum, is that we really do enjoy excellent quality ingredients here in Ireland. This is in no way a slight on the quality of ingredients we enjoyed in NY, but things like scallops (and other fish), lamb, beef and vegetables were notable by their very normality. This was surprising to us, but maybe it shouldn't be. In any case, it goes without saying that the *breadth* of choice was far more than we're used to, but it's nice to know that what we do we're actually doing quite well.
We so enjoyed this trip that we're hoping to return for a few days before Christmas, and maybe try to be more regular visitors to NY. To all those who helped with the planning of this trip, we offer our thanks, and a request that you keep an eye out for the inevitable "part 2" later in the year. We'll definitely sample sushi next time, pizza will have to feature, and a trip to some of the other boroughs is definitely in order. Until then, all I can say is that it's just as well I don't live near Momofuku Ssam. I'd weigh 300 pounds before year-end.
Over and out!
Si
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Fabulous pictures and a great report from what sounds like a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I am, of course, insanely jealous, but of all people I'm sure *you* appreciated it, Doc!
Si
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Of course A is Dino "That's Amore". I thought someone would have answered that by now.
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D is Dean Martin again, "How do you like your eggs in the morning". It's currently in use for a TV ad over here, so I feel like I know it well at this stage!
Si
Simpler sandwiches
in Food Traditions & Culture
Posted
Guilty as charged!! While we're on the subject, I'm not sure I ever got over my student penchant for Mild Curry Supernoodle sandwiches. Okay, I haven't had one in about 10 years, but I don't think I'd refuse one if offered.
While I'm willing to admit this, what bothers me is the recent rise, here at least, of "Gourmet" sandwich bars who continue to spare ne'er a thought for the bread. The worst is O'Brien's, where the gourmet moniker barely applies to anything, but the bread is particularly awful. They make a big deal about it being "thick" but it's a barely digestible, cardboard flavoured concoction. Sadly, O'Brien's are now everywhere.
Si