Vadouvan

I had vetri's, in all fairness it includes lavender ice cream. Awesome

You pain in the asses. I suppose you are right but do you know what that involves. DAY 1 1. Get all 6 lobes. 2. Portion 8 pieces of foie from each lobe for searing from the large half. 3. Devein the small half and remaining scraps of large half and scraps from larger half. 4. Marinate part 3 for 24 hrs for terrine. 5. Cryovac all of part 2 on a flat plate and hold at between 25 to 38 degrees in the refrigerator. DAY 2 6. Pack,label,cryovac and cook 6 individual terrines (1 for each lobe) 7. Let them sit overnight chilled in refrigerator 8. Check that vacuum and color retention is retained on pieces destined for searing. DAY 3 9. Unmold and taste test terrines. 10. sear and taste test portioned pieces. 11. Call the ambulance. Seriously this means they all have to be marinated and seasoned by weight. Are we up to this challenge ? Gordon, this time you are getting Balthazar's Brioche.

I think I am with you on that point Phil. A I especially love this line..... "The chocolate and olive oil work magic together, and a sprinkling of fleur de sel hits you after, a chocolate-covered-pretzel-type tingle all the way down. We hate to make broad, city-wide declarations, but this is Philly's best dessert right now. " Hmmmm lets see, the chef used to work at Vetri. What dessert did craig Laban rave about in the Vetri review that awarded Mark 4 bells. Could it be chocolate, olive oil and salt.... Nope, you should not make broad city wide declarations....especially when said dishes have been done before.

Nice try..... Distance wont matter, we are having them shipped like donor organs Doc.....

Preliminary Foie Discusssions. Here are the choices. 1. Hudson Valley USA Duck 2. Rougie French Duck 3. Rougie French Goose 4. Palmex Quebec Duck 5. Sonoma Duck 6. La Belle Farms Duck Gordon, any thoughts on how this should be structured ? All grade A lobes for sure.

And in the interest of truth..... The *ONLY* dish I have ever trashed without actually tasting.....ever......ever is the SHRIMP Stuffed with duck confit Wrapped in proscuitto Drizzled with pistachio oil.................and lets not forget.......the Espresso reduction.

To the contrary. I have nothing against you or the fact that you have an opinion, that isnt the point, I do have a big problem with people creating contextually negative images from food they havent tasted and subsequently questioning the chef's intergrity or sense of style as an attempt at humorous prose especially if such person used to own a restaurant. The quote was : To say that about someone who spent the last few years working at... Brasserie Perrier Lacroix Mugaritz in Spain Gilt in New York is *incredibly* rude and irresponsible. My point is about owning a restaurant and paying attention to your employee's behaviour (on the phone with boyfriend) and allowing it to continue to a point where it affects your customer's experiences. Pretty much contextually your criticisms of snackbar. Should you be able to make them ? Of course......BUT it's a small town and scorched earth policies and harsh criticisms by people previously guilty of said issues are ill advised.

Ouch , Ouch, owwwwwwch. There have been reports about a lack of focus in the initial days of snackbar. While I dont dispute nor diminish your experiences, it is one on the reasons that restaurants with kitchens and dining rooms on different floors have more challenges streamlining customer service. I sincerely doubt they served you croissant crumbs from the bottom of the bag, many respected chefs in America hollow out croissant and toast just the crust as an accompaniment to cheese. In general, I have always discussed this issue of how people seem to intentionally sabotage thier own dining experiences and blame the chef afterwards. If a chef puts "ESCARGOT" on a skewer, granted not the most attractive object, which you also admit you did *NOT* taste, the comparison to cat litter or more specifically quoting you "bits of catshit with litter clinging to it" is poor spirited and frankly disingenous especially if you have ever had the title "Chef". Imagine if I went to Bar Lyonnaise and I was brought over the escargot swimming in green butter. I assume the dish would be much less appetizing if I say "this looks like cat poop swimming in what looks like run-off from three mile island" what was Georges Perrier thinking ? In my former capacity as a homebuilder who specialised in "glass houses", after each job was finished and we signed over the building to the homeowner, we always encouraged them not to "throw stones". Besides the fact that it was probably two of the most egregiously bad meals I have eaten anywhere, the meals I had at "Bella" now "Meritage" had similarly incomprehensible waits between courses and as you would have guessed.... No Comps. The ironies of this statement are endless.

Plus it is about the emperor's new clothes. Only nouveau riche simpletons looking for something to prove attend such events. The same reason people "rich" people put chrome wheels on already expensive cars in LA and Miami.

I agree that people should not make reservations without cancelling them in a sensible time fashion but that is the name of the game in NY, reserve and make a choice. Sure some jackasses dont bother to cancel in good time or at all but my only point is this tendency of preachy responses from people in other countries. The poster is a personal friend and I know his intentions and his respect for restaurants. One person making multiple reservations is democratic. One entity making multiple reservations and selling them under assumed names when you show up at the restaurant is frankly BS and completely different. Bakhoum's husbands analogy that he is doing it for any other reason but money is a collective insult to the intelligence of new yorkers.

Bhudda Bar, Asia De Cuba and Spice Market are 200plus seat restaurants that specialise in 10 to 12 dollar plus cocktails. One person cancelling a reservation a day before isnt going to change anything. Kittichai is subsidized by 60 thompson Hotel/Room Service/Thom Bar....shall I go on...? As opposed to all these holier-than though-proseletyzing that goes on on e gullet, why dont people just answer the poster's query rather than educating them on reservation etiquette. I personally know David DeSilva, he isnt some rube from out of town and is clearly aware of cancelling with good notice. Hell..... new yorkers seem to tolerate the absurdity of Primetime tables. To answer your question Dave....Kittichai. The rest are garbage, trendy soulless meatpacking/dated asian fusion restaurants. Ian Chalermkittichai's food rocks and is far and above beyond the rest of that crap.

Tim words such as "medium" heat become meaningless because of BTU variations is cooking Hobs. That being said, the temp is below smoking point and you get a gentle "not Violent" sizzle that allows you to cook it without turning it for 10 to 15 minutes....AND not creating any burnt surface. Before I delve way too technical, are you familiar with the concepts of Carbonization and Maillard reactions ? Here lies the beauty of induction stoves my friend, you could basically say turn the stove to number 7 for at least 5 minutes with the pan on and it will be consistent everytime. Regarding the thermometer, Yes and No. No i dont use it because I can feel the heat after lots of experience cooking meat. However, if you wanted to quantify the correct temp in which you should put the steak in the pan, you could narrow it down within 2 tries with the surface infra-red non contact thermometer. But then you would have to buy one too, they are not cheap but for me indispensable, just a better faster cleaner way of doing things. I use it mostly for sugar work and monitoring cooling temps. Here is one..... Click.. http://www.jbprince.com/index.asp?PageActi...ROD&ProdID=2182 Ultimately, you need to cook the old school way first, judgement of heat is critical to being a competent cook.....

Citysearch Menupages Foobooz

Has anyone eaten here recently ? I dont know if this is a good or bad review...... http://www.citypaper.net/articles/2007/02/08/going-for-broke The reviewer seems to have no interest in cryptic menu descriptions. I personally find cute menus that dont actually describe the food to be somewhat silly..... Any thoughts ?

Yo ...Lamando. http://agmap.psu.edu/Businesses/2522

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Bowden and Smerconish arent food reviewer's. I thought this was a Laban thread ?

Correct Andrew. Gfweb's analogy and further commetary about "JAMES" from people who havent eaten there at this point is starting to border on brinksmanship. I think we get the general idea that businesses should function to the degree of proficiency they claim to have as soon as they are open, the reality is restaurants take a lot of work and the "service" industry takes a beating from this current atmosphere of consumerism. Your MD analogy is a great example, 98% of medical appointments are egregiously not on time due to poor organisation of medical practices, if you complain, they get mad and tell you they are busy................... That percentage is probably quintuple the failure rate of restaurant reservations....."James" probably has corrected some of the flaws since this thread started and I realise some people are coming into the conversation late..............but the "finer points" of expectations have been discussed ad nauseum, lets move on and talk about the actual food.........

Fenton............the steak that needed the "age" trimmed was the Rastelli steak from DBrothers. Speaking of DB, we got to get hands on Picinini Brothers, Daniel Boulud's butcher of choice, see if it's cracked up to be. The title of the next tasting......... Foie Gratis-Foie Gracias-Foie Gratuitous. Stay tuned.

Just a quick mention since this obsession with clarity is bothering me..... The meat from Dibruno's was from a supplier called Rastelli's in New Jersey. SO.........Rastelli's Meats. I remember clearly off the top of my head that is was $24.12, for some reason i remember math trivia (24/2=12). Anyways it was about 18 oz. Now factoring in PRICE........ Rastelli Steak from dibruno RETAILED at $24.12 Both Wells WHOLESALED at roughly $26 dollars which would make them double the price. Harry Ochs RETAILED at $31 Whole Foods RETAILED at $24 Esposito WHOLESALED at Mid 20's Thoughts on value ???????

Seriously Doc.....if you were eating the Whole foods steak and drinking a Richebourg,Sassicaia or Vega Sicilia-Unico, it still would have sucked.

Philadining...the correct password is.... Neccessito papa fritas por favor.

Quickly killing some time, god I love free wi-fi, it's shocking how many people dont have passwords on thier wireless networks..... A few quick points. Dibruno Brothers is a respectable operation and I just want us all to clarify the steak "purchased at Dibruno's" VS the "Dibruno's Steak". They just sell it and arent really responsible for it's flavor profile. I just want some sensitivity to unfairly slamming them. Clearly whole foods has no excuse since they do thier own aging. See my point ? On the whole I think Dibruno is a fantastic place and a great addition to the Philadelphia food scene. We should however start a beef petition, the original point of these thread was to answer these questions, I am sure in the day to day running of a multi-million dollar operation, one doest have time to do objective steak tastings. It seems a second steak tasting is in order. Others may disagree but when the juices get "redistributed into the meat", I prefer it flows down into the mass of the steak as opposed to sitting flat. A definitive answer could be sought from Harold Mcgee. It isnt a big deal but I guess its just a personal quirk. I rest all meat on though, i think airflow underneath helps. I shall do that in the AM. True Doc......just a matter of circumstances and what was available. Bone -in Steaks do historically for me taste way better. Actually the first part of the tasting was how to cook a steak. I suppose you could use cast iron but I just prefer the feel and heat transfer of Carbon Steel. It also seems to hold it's seasoning better. Steaks were cooked entirely in the pan, no oven. It can be done simply by heat control and not moving the steak for any reason once it's in the pan for at least 15 minutes. If the heat is correct, you get a gentle sizzle, nice sear, good heat penetration. Important to start from relatively close to room temperature. season*only* the side face down in the pan. Season (salt) the other side just before you flip it. Not too much oil, just a light film, it aint tempura. Let it rest on a rack perhaps under a heat lamp.

Mr Big, not to dismiss your question but I am on my way back to NY and wont be able to post til tommorow. The others will fill in the blanks. To answer your question quickly. The issue of consumers having access to better meat is going to have to be handled by the "middlemen" but the "middlemen" have no incentive or desire to do so because customers as a whole are not clamoring for better meat. The middlemen are specialty or even just good grocery stores. If you look at NY, I can walk into Citarella/Fairway/Dean and Deluca and my favourite... Agata and Valentina to buy a great steak which they buy from meat suppliers. The problem in Philly is retailers need to buy better meat. Yes Wells does not sell to the public, they sell to restaurants and hotels. They will sell to grocery stores like say Dibruno but I imagine there has to be enough interest. They already have a huge investment in the meat shop, maybe you ought to send them a note. Regarding Wolfe Neck, Todd Wentz serves it at 20/21, it is procured from D'artagnan but only sold as a whol gigantic piece....again, Dibruno, Wegmans,whole foods and all these othe places sell D'artagnan products. Your problem rest with the meat Buyers who just need to source better meat. Arguably the achilles heel of this tasting is that restaurant quality meat is just far superior but it can only be purchased in quantity and not directly available to the public. Simply picking out retail meat would have been a relative waste of time and money although Gordon thinks whole foods has better meat and consistency issues......but last night's sample was egregiously bad. As for cooking method, PHilA-D has pics. Talk later tonight or tommorow.

I cant seem to fall asleep. I'm in a beef induced euphoria. First of all thanks for everyone's efforts and participation. DAgordon you are the man. A special thank you to Chef Todd (That's Townsend to you) Wentz at Twenty Twenty One restaurant in commerce square for procuring what happened to be one of the best steaks of the evening. Phil-A for the photography as usual and Professor Fentonski's intellectual addition to the conversation. Steaks were as follows. We decided to skip Wagyu due to the obvious advantage. 1. DiBrunos Dry Aged (Strip) Rib Eye 2. Wells CAB (Black Angus) 3. Wells Dry Aged Choice 4. Esposito 21day Dry Aged Strip 5. Harry Ochs Dry Aged Porterhouse 6. Whole Foods (Dry Aged) Str 7. Wolfe Neck Rib Eye 8. Peter Luger’s Dry Aged Porterhouse 9. Lobels 6w Dry Aged Porterhouse Steaks were all cooked the same way. Halen-Mon Salt Leblanc Grapeseed Oil Black Carbon Steel French Pans. Others will probably give more detailed responses but to sum it up.. Lobel's was by far the best. Peter Luger's while excellent could have been better. Wolfe Neck was just truly delicious for me, it had a gret beefy flavor, good chew and balance of tenderness at about 1/3 the price of Lobel's. If I was saying it alone, it may be percieved as shilling but I think other attendees will agree the Wolfe's Neck meat rocked. Of the Local Steaks, the best was Wells CAB a great delicious steak for simple steakhouse dishes.. Wells Dry Aged Choice was good but not as tender as the better steaks. Esposito's was a conundrum. It displayed some very interesting flavor notes that some found way too strong. I think it is a steak with character well suited to more complicated platings and pairings. Perfect for something like a Bordelaise or Marchand De Vin. Great texture, strong flavor reminiscent of Scottish beef. It's complexity in my opinion also makes it a *great* grilling steak especially if fruitwoods are involved in the grilling. Harry Ochs was just OK, not even remotely close to the top 4. No special distinctive character. Dibruno's steak could not compete with the top steaks. This should not be held against DB brothers, they just sell the meat.......but they need to change thier meat supplier to George Wells. Far better Steaks for the same price points... Whole foods steak basically sucked ____ (rhymes with the french word for cup) and should be shipped to Alligator pens at the Zoo. Expensive, boring,tasteless, grainy. Whole Lotta flavorlessness... My Picks 1. Lobel 2. Wolfe Neck 3. Luger 4. Wells CAB 5. Esposito Steak I am most likely to purchase with frequency, cost and all other attributes taken into consideration, Wells CAB, Wolfe and Lobel. More discussion as other's post thier thoughts. French fries to cleanse the palate bacon and eggs for dessert. Lipitor party treats......