Vadouvan

Pizza was fantastic again. Mark personally banged out the pizza last night/ Delicious indeed. Andrew the tripe was fantatic abd a bargain at 10 dollars.

bouchon uses frozen store bought frites

I may be making a tripe trip up there tonight.

Osteria is very good. Stopped by around 9.30pm last night, the place was full. Few seats open at the bar. There is a bar-bar where you can eat and a counter-bar in front of the open kitchen where you can also eat. Lots of table seating. I would not say the food concentrates on one regional style but it eexcels at what it does. The memories that come to mind are CasaMono meets Lupa, co-incidentally both batali restaurants. Immediate observations : Vetri spent his money wisely and smartly. This is the *only* open kitchen in Phliadelphia where the atmospheric conditions of cooking in the kitchen have absolutely no effect on the atmospheric conditions of the diners. Translation, great ventilation, this is one of the primary reasons I consciously avoid open kitchens like Amada,Audrey Claire, Buddakan...ect ect. This is not to say those arent good restaurants, just that they have semi-lame ventilation systems. This is readily apparent because they are cooking tons of pasta, sauteeing, grilling and have a brick oven/wood pizza setup...... And on to the pizza..... *By far* the best pizza in Philadelphia. Had a pizza called "Lombarda"...cotechino, cheeses, an egg cracked on top almost over-easy. It rocked. Smoky, superthin crust, crisp. in WKL-speak...the shizzy. Tried a few small plates, white beans artichokes,octopus,tuscan kale, clams stew. All food was solid and delicious. Several wines by the glass. Desserts looked great, there are a lot of interesting dishes to go back for... Tortellini in brodo, tripes roma style, bisteca fiorentina, roast chicken with porcini...pastas with complex ragus.... Vetri was there, took us on a tour of the facilities, nice rustic space, not overdone, just comfy and about the food. Another small step for Mark Vetri but definitely a giant leap for Italian food in philadelphia, all the stereotypical garbage like vodka cream sauces, Amatriciana without pepperoncini,winter tomato salads, pre grated locatelli instead of ungrated reggiano, flavorless olive oil at the table ect ect are thankfully absent. Really great food.

Duuuuuuude, can we not discuss disgusting medical issues on this thread , we would like to keep it focused on the pleasures of food and tasting..... maybe someone needs to start a food borne illness symptom thread but it deviates too far from the point of this one that I personally have no interest in those images.....

How about Erawan Thai...always good.... Good weather for some phungalangal soup.......... Seriously, not bad and never busy....

PROJECT....have you watched Gourmet's diary of a foodie on PBS ? Let me use an analogy that may piss off some people to address your question. The "DRUG" problem is society isnt just an issue of "DRUG DEALERS". It's also an issue of "DRUG USERS" and the underlying reasons they need "DRUGS". As much as you all take food network to task, they are simply giving America what it wants, that is "the majority of America". You also need to address the issues of "celebrity" chefs selling thier souls to anyone who show's up with a pile of cash be it the Food Network or a Vegas Casino or a licensing deal for useless cookware or overpriced garbage in a can or jar. That to me is at least half the problem. I *agree* with you the content is banal, I agree about the target audience projection from the other thread but housewives 30-60 have so much more to worry about than the phenolic content of the olive oil that Rachel Ray is using. You wake up at 6am, make breakfast, send off the kids to school, go to work or do laundry and other administrative domestic chores, watch oprah, get dinner ready, after school programs, put them to bed, be a wife to the husband and repeat the process for 12 to 18 years....... I think ultimately while the food network does (for the most part) suck, we here on e gullet who collectively may be the most knowledgeable about food and ingredients as a community may be taking our passions a bit too far by expecting the rest of society to exercise interest with the level of passion or integrity with which we do. Food Network is as much about food...as TLC or the PBS shows are about convincing you to actually build you own house from scratch. Television has always been an entertainment medium and will contimue to be. They create personalities, they sell products, thats it. Is there capacity for change ? Yes but they also seem to have a distinct lack of vision probably because the maverick who develops new programming with content of higher integrity and accuracy will be on the chopping block when the ratings come in during sweeps period. That the problem with the food network..... Nobody wants to rock the boat. They have an ivory tower in the meat packing district for christ's sake. The other point is information acqusition is in a transitional stage and TV is not nearly in front and will comtinue to fall behind, internet searches are. One can simple google "Tomato Varieties" and find out immediately. It seems to me that those of us who already know the answers want to make it requisite for others to take our passions seriously. That is not a crisis of food in America. That is a crisis of the influence of the media and mass marketing on the baseline intelligence of society.

Crabmeat can be sourced from at least 20 different places in the world. It isnt limited to Asia and the Chesapeake. There is lots of delicious crabmeat that isnt from the chesapeake bay. I have had fantastic crab in virtually every country I have ever visited and none of it was from the chesapeake bay.

It's awful, it doesnt taste like Crab at all. The difference between fresh and pasteurized crab is about the same as the difference between fresh and dried basil in July. The funny thing is some of the people who sell it refrigerate it.......

Dude if the chick's hot and into me, we could be eating on a rock in Moab utah...... It's who you are with that makes it romantic.

and Somehow, Le Bec Fin serves the same crabcakes year round. The point is due to the world fishery trade and the advent of air transportation,crabmeat which is now essentially a commoditycan be gotten from somewhere all year round to the degree that seasonality is a moot point. Think also in some issues of "season" the season isnt based on the life of the product as mush as how many human beings die during it's harvesting. See the movie "The perfect Storm". Better yet the reality show..... This is the best thing I have ever seen on TV period. http://shopping.discovery.com/product-58357.html

Bob bob bob.......I thought you were the RTM inventory master...... DAgordon, Philadining and I banged out a tasty crab and roasted parsley risotto this weekend with some mighty fine crab from the seafood place in reading terminal......the big seafood place between Salumeria and I-O-Vine. Jumbo Lump, fresh not pasteurized. $22.99 for 1 lb but well worth it. David ..Phil.....back me up here.... Crabmeat is availlable fresh year round. Crabmeat does *not* go out of season.

Tap upstairs... Quieter, good duck confit, bugers, ect....dirt cheap too.

Ansill That was too quick.... Wait......let me think......Ansill. If you do want to spend more $$$, cosy great bar....Striped Bass. Hanging out with "Suits" and chicks trying to hook up with suits (quite fun to watch like those national geographic animal mating scenes)............ Brasserie Perrier. Make out at the Bar........ Bar Lyonnais Downright Naughty activity at the bar.........Zee Bar. Sushi at the Bar.................Morimoto. Have the bar to yourselves..............Snackbar Watch the chefs cook every detail of your food at the bar....Pasion Guacamole and banging drinks at the Bar .....Caballito and Xochitl Best food and value Bar none.......Ansill.

Welcome to E-gullet Chilly Rae..... (Ambient temperature not her attitude)

Dibruno butter selection is very good, the butter made from Parmigiano production is awesome.

No sir....... Dibruno should have it though. President and Isigny are very good too. The only pleasure derived from landing at Heathrow is running to the nearest grocer and checking out the butter and bacon aisles........yes entire aisles of bacon and butter at Waitrose But Sir Townsend at 20/21 uses it. Now thats a great reason to hit 20/21, a solid wolfe neck ribeye topped with lescure...... Also Heston from old gullet chats..... http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=11925 The Salted one "demi sel" is what you want for bread. Some restaurants (did i say Rouge) inaccurately use grey sea salt on cheap butter and call it "fleur de sel" which isnt Grey, it's white.........so what they in fact use is "sel gris" which is far cheaper and does not taste the same.

Not so Gordon Liddy....... People will disagree but torchon and terrine of foie are identical preparations. Long ago before the French Laundry cookbook was written, French people had been making torchons of foie for a hundred years. Keep in mind that as a general rule, the frenchies name preparations after the vessels they are made in.........."savarin"............"Cocotte"............"Casolette" which is something entirely different from "cassoulet". BUT.....anyway, my point is a terrine is called a terrine because it's made in a terrine mold. A "torchon" refers to the tubular shape such that it could be held like a "torch". Otherwise both are foie gras, marinated, seasoned, barely cooked, rested, sliced. Flavorwise exactly the same. Shape...different. Pardon my French but the name "torchon" only became "de rigueur" after the Laundry book was published.

Hey hey...cut that chef stuff out... We are all comis..... Yannii butter is easy, let me save you the trouble. Unsalted......Lescure Salted .......Lescure with crunchy salt. Truffle..........Lescure with black truffle. I have had Animal Farm Butter at Per Se, excellent but my best bread and butter experience of all time was at the first iteration of GILT. Gilt's brioche and lescure rocked.

Has anyone actually had the Gachot Ribeye at Barclay Prime ?

Your point is a good thought Katie however since we are a group of friends who get together to cook and eat without being a commercial enterprise, organized protest strikes me as a silly invasion of privacy. I dont think anyone needs to worry about that. That isnt even remotely close to the problem with this endeavor assuming it occurs. It has a 4 day lead time, could be expensive as sin if one has to use two of each liver. I am on the hunt for some terrine molds just a little bigger than the size of a stick of butter. That is the key to making this work. I think the Crate and Barrel on Broadway and Houston may have the best ceramics selection. We shall see.....

Has anyone heard of this place ? The address places it across the the street from Jones. Starr ? http://www.707restaurant.com/

No chopping involved. The Ice formation will crush the rosemary and release the oils. That's why the rosemary needs to be "alive" and the container should be strong enought to withstand the expansion.

COLD INFUSION Bryan. Rosemary oxidises quickly and it's flavor and essence is a bit more of a fleeting vapor. Subjecting it to too much heat just makes it disappear. There is this trick I use but it depends on getting your hands on some super-fresh rosemary, preferably from a rosemary plant that is still growing if possible. I assume you want said Gelee to be green ? Part 1. Make a green herb "Water" by blanching, refreshing, pureeing with bottled still water ( evian) and straining the green water out through cotton without any sediment. The water should be iced water from the refrigerator. Although not neccessary, I also use a bar blender with a metal vessel which I leave in the freezer for several hours so no heat is generated during the blending. You get this ridiculously green liquid. In terms of neutrality of flavor, I use watercress,tarragon,parsley and chive. Strangely they seem to cancel each other out. PM me if you want actual ratios. Now to transfer the rosemary flavor to the green "Water". Part 2. Find a small plastic container with a lid that cannot be ruptured by "Ice expansion". half fill it with very high quality rosemary. Fill it to the top with your green water. Carefully put the lid on and screw it on tight. Freeze it solid. Defrost that container, shake well and pour out your green water. Smell it. Dont ever heat it up. If you decide to gelatinize it, add the cooled but not gelled gelatin base to it. Seriously, good rosemary.

I had vetri's, in all fairness it includes lavender ice cream. Awesome Thanks for alerting us to this new blog phil.