Vadouvan
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Posts posted by Vadouvan
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The best place for you to start if you insist on takeout is the Genji setup at Whole foods on Callowhill.......otherwise take you ace to Sagami.
Why waste your time and money on low quality sushi.
The place on 17th and chestnut is OK too.
If we were talking cheesesteaks, you would *not* be starting at pats or genos.......
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I'm also not sure why you're steadfastly refusing to relay any information about the restaurant beyond "the food is better than reported." The thing is, you're asking us to condemn Ms. Lucey's review based on what it says
I am not asking anyone to do anything or condemn anyone.
I simply posted my thoughts ............ just about everyone else on E gullet does.
Some may disagree, some may agree.
It speaks to a larger "local" issue which clearly a lot of other posters agree with.
I have no interest in acrimonious exchanges.
So lets leave it at that.
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Your substantive argument -- that she should have focused on the abomination of fried sushi -- doesn't hold up under casual examination.
I suppose it's another thing we dont agree on, I am not saying she should have focused her rage on fried sushi, perhaps my words were too strong, the internet doesnt do justice to inflection and other real world human emotions that make an otherwise casual statement seem inflamatory.
I guess I was adding a bit of my own social elitism and the best analogy I can come up with would be like an Automobile writer discussing why the chrome wheels on a cadillac escalade were not polished......as opposed to why anyone wants to be seen in a chrome wheeled escalade.
The quotes from her companions aren't about handbags or pop culture, they're about the foodFood in these types of restaurants is pop culture otherwise, Nobu, Starr,Chodorow wouldnt be spending 6 to 12 million $$$ on restaurants.
you should be prepared to support it -- not protest the pointlessness of online discussions just because someone doesn't accept your point of view.I am not protesting anything, you are taking this too seriously.
I have mentioned previously that the food wasnt as bad as the names may suggest.
I am not using my psychic powers of taste.
The deduction if I have to spell it out is yes I have been there.
I am not saying it's a great restaurant but the food is better than reported.
Have you been ?
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I agree with Phillidinning. I myself do not care about the mentioning of whoever is in the article. I just read the article. The food does not sound good. Even without the description. Asian Caesar salad? Chocolate spring rolls? "Ewww." See .. I can say that, cause I am not a critic.
I think what V is saying, FG, is that there is a lot of talking significant others in the conversation, and not enough content. It is alright when Frank Bruni writes about his guests because he has more than ample writing room to continue his critique. This article was not very long, so maybe she should have stuck to the topic better.
I would just not go to the restuarant, not matter how good the tea is
Thanks Matt, I think the point of the thread was to express local frustration on the quality of writers over the last few years. One Achilles heel of E gullet is anyone can chime in withouth understanding the broad topic since they havent spent anytime in the local area of discussion.
Interestingly, at the end of the day, no one changes anyone else's mind. I wonder if I should even bother with these pointless back and forths.
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And I think plenty of people other than sushi neophytes have respect for Morimoto, Nobu and the hundreds of other examples of sushi chefs serving fried maki that you can pull up on Google.
So you've eaten at the restaurant? What did you have? Why was it better than the review said? The reviewer has made her case. Why not make yours?
She made her boyfriends case.....
Besides who goes to Nobu or Morimoto for sushi ?
Next thing you know I will be going to Asia de Cuba for Cuban Food.
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May I ask what you are trying to foam ?
And yes, using an ISI is a prerequisite as well as using a foam stabiliser.
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There's nothing wrong with referencing what the other people in your group said about a meal, it's not convincing to claim that she should have gone off on how sushi shouldn't be cooked (in the past decade, panko- and tempura-style sushi have been firmly established as part of the genre -- and there has long been cooked sushi, like eel and shrimp),
1. I think our issue is repeatedly offering other people's opinions.....especially if it is someone you are intimately involved with.
As a food critic, repeatedly saying your boyfriend or girlfriend did or did not care for the food is absurd. It's kinda like "hearsay" under cross examination.
2. There is a big difference between Panko Fried maki and Tempura maki.
As for "cooked sushi" Unagi is never served uncooked as you well know and neither is shrimp for the most part except for the places that do really good "live" shrimp sashimi.
The "cooking" of sushi outside of the few things that are classically "cooked" while perhaps acceptable isnt taken seriously by anyone but sushi neophytes.
The point was rather than dwell on the finer points of fried food that shouldnt be fried in the first place, save your criticism for the sacrilegious act of deep fried "Sushi".
And yes the food is better than it reads, not unbeliveable food but to call it uninspired with such a low level of prose is abjectly ridiculous.
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Perhaps then I might respect it when they write, "but most of the creations were uninspired, lacking kick and flavor." Compared to what the fast food you had at lunch?
CORRECT HandMC........
I tend to find that language is important and I read between the lines. Most descriptions of food lacking "kick" that the 3 gringas have used in thier reviews were atributed to food that the brilliance of the dish was it's subtlety. i remember the abysmal review of SALT by one of them using the catchphrase "salt could use more salt" but it was Miso glazed halibut with pea fondue and braised baby fennel. In this day and age when people salt food before tasting it, accept black pepper which has no place in most cooked food simply because the waiter offers it and destroys most wine, Italian cheeses on seafood pastas, Sriracha on everything......ect ect.
Sushi tasting fishy! Imagine that! While sushi coated in bread crumbs sounds like an abomination, and maybe that was what she was taking issue with, this was not effectively communicated in her writing. But a complaint that sushi tasting fishy, that's just silly.Indeeeeeeed.....!
If the "sushi" wasnt fresh, she would have elaborated and said it was a bit off. Some fresh pieces of Sashimi have stronger tastes such as sawara, hamachi hara ect ect.
ONLY sushi neophytes encounter panko crusted sushi rolls and not criticise the obvious (Fried sushi) as opposed to delving into its finer points.......
I do like the....."my boyfriend doesnt know what's in the sauce" like he is freaking Michele Bras or Alain Ducasse...so what !
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for the weekly, i thought that moving beyond robin "here is a column listing the things i don't like" rinaldi was a step in the right direction--kirsten henri is miles better, even if she likes to take cheap potshots at us nerds here on the interwebs.
They all still suck.
Emphasis is definitely on prose and the flow of information as opposed to accuracy or legitimacy of content.
One other thing is these chicks tend to do is describe menu items they rave about and cannot possibly be tasting.
Case and Point, the sidebar with the "recently reviewed" places speaks to L'angolo which is a good enough restaurant but then she waxes poetic about a "Homemade ricotta gnocchi with gorgonzola-thyme sauce".
How much contribution would thyme or any other herb for that matter make to a cream sauce based on Gorgonzola cheese..........
I mean just total cluelessness
Sitar India with "lesser known dishes like goat curry and spicy chickpeas"
Goat Curry and Channa Masala.....lesser known dishes in Indian cooking.........seriously....
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I always wonder why much credibility is given to the second and third tier "food critics" in Philadelphia who seem more interested in prose and cute sentences than actual substantive knowledgeable information. They actually seem to be getting worse and I am referring to the Elisa Ludwigs, Kristen Henris and in this case the review of Mantra by Catherine Lucey in the daily news yesterday.
Besides all the bitching about Chains and rent in the Lacroix thread, one of the worst things about the evolution of food in terms of public perception in Philadelphia is the continous issue of Local papers hiring clueless people who just dont get it.
I am pretty sure the public doesnt have an interest in a critic stating not much more than a skewed personal opinion but seriously do we really care what her boyfriend thinks ?????
What gives ?
http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/living/14926903.htm
It's more of a recitation of a date than a dinner.
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Samuels and Son.
They sell mostly whatever doesnt quite meet restaurant standard or surplus.
I am not saying they sell bad fish, I am just saying the absolute best stuff goes to restaurants and premium prices.
For the most part, all the fish and produce at the Italian market is B to C grade.
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To Add.....Rouen is also in Normady which is very far from the Mediterranean......but somehow they have all the medi-fish superfresh.
Strangely enough the city is actually famous for Ducks......hence the term "Rouennaise" in french duck dishes.
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Yo Matt.....I am going to have to give you spelling lessons.....
"KOMOLO"...our little friend Mi-sun......she does sell great fish.
Also TrueWorld Foods.....The Japanese division.
Pre-Katrina, there was some really good stuff from the Prawn Corporation of America in Metiarire.
Lots to ponder here. You're right, the city could use better fish markets, and a lot of the fish I see at the three RTM stalls doesn't meet my standards. But if you are selective, you can find some fine fish there. They offer plenty of whole fish, so you can better judge the quality. About a month ago I had some Alaskan halibut from John Yi's that was surprisingly fresh. (Of course, it could well have been frozen, though I don't think so; nonetheless, properly frozen and handled frozen fish can frequently be better than fresh.) Nice, very firm halibut steaks, full of meaty halibut flavor. It was handled with care. I also made a trip a couple of weeks ago to Ippolito's, the retail division of Samuels & Sons; I was generally disappointed with the store (no mackeral?) but the whole fluke I purchased was very fresh and sweet; almost as good if I can caught it myself.Your dead-on in saying the reason people get tasteless fish is because they want it that way. Sigh. Yet, at least some people must want fish that has taste. Or maybe it's price. Mackeral, one of the world's tastiest fishes, can be obtained at less than $3/pound from the RTM fishmongers. Only slightly more expensive is porgy. And guess what? Porgy is a sea bream. You know what they call sea bream in France? Dorade! (Admittedly, it's a particular variety, in this case -- dorade in France, gilthead sea bream in the UK -- and its flavor profile is a little different from other bream. But not that different.)
Which brings me to your list of wonderful fish at the Rouen market, bigboss. Look over that list of finfish, and I think you'll find that all of them are landed along the northwest coast of France, maybe 50 or 60 miles from Rouen. (I think the shellfish are also local.) So, the fish you cite as so pristine and fresh are LOCAL fish. They are not imported from half a continent away or a distant corner of the world.
And that's the secret of good fish: fresh and local. So don't expect to get a fresh John Dory here; that's asking too much. (By the same token, I think it would be unreasonable to expect fresh-caught bluefish in Rouen.)
1. The fresh fish=local fish is always a cop out.
The real issue here is transportation and storage. What really happens is several people along the chain of distribution right down to the end user take the cheap way out thereby diminishing quality at every step. I have had maguro, O-toro and Chu-toro at the Tsukiji fish market that was caught off the coast of New Jersey.
http://www.tsukiji-market.or.jp/tukiji_e.htm
It's just that the culture of seafood retailing in America is clueless and seafood inspection is lax.
The big container companies who carry seafood around the world do so very quickly and efficiently, they even have refrigerated self contained gigantic containers..
Hapag Lloyd
Sealand
Maersk
P&O Nedloyd
All these gets dragged over to Packer Avenue right in front of the stadium.
That's where things slowly go downhill.
Between, Samuel's, Frank Hopkins and Liberty Fish you can buy decent to OK fish which is where 99% of the retail outlets pick up fish.
The RTM people...
The washington avenue asian grocers who rarely use refrigerated trucks.
Ect Ect.
In order to get truly excellent stuff, you are going to have to hook up with a good negotiant of which the best in Philly is Tony McCarthy.
So people put fish admittedly in boxes with ice on the backs of the pickup trucks and take it to RTM..........they just dont care.
And even after it gets there, it isnt properly refrigerated, the refigerators are not cold enough.
Trust me, I have pointed a Raytek infra-red thermometer at every fish case in reading terminal and nothing even approaches 42C which is the maximum.
http://support.fluke.com/raytek-sales/down...1-1101_revf.pdf.
As far as taste, the reason people like mild fish is because the retail fish industry is just absymal and few of us perhaps except those who grew up in Louisiana, Seattle,Rhode Island or Florida have fond memories of fish while growing up.
We also cannot dictate taste.
So Mackerel has a stronger taste but most people dont like it not because they are simpletons, it's the same reason some people will prefer chicken or duck over squab or scottish pheasant or pork over Boar.
If anything, the Japanese eat every thing from mild stuff like Onaga and Kampachi to Sawara aka Spanish mackerel.
Ultimately it's about being cheap.
Even restaurants cut corners, Traulsen makes refrigerators for fish, those of you in the biz know how it works.
It's also that Philly is far behind other cities in terms of fish distribution.
The Billingsgate market in london is fantastic as is the new york fish market.
You just have to get retailer who get it.
On a daily basis for example, you can get better seafood and fish at "Citarella" on 6th Ave than you can at the Philadelphia Regional seafood Market.....
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Not quite. The same NY Times article you linked to observed:
QUOTE(New York Times @ Oct. 6, 2004)
Just because a slice of tuna is brown, it does not mean it is not fresh. And other factors determine the color, including the fat content, species and cut. The finest fresh bluefin, which sells for up to $40 a pound at Tokyo's wholesale fish markets, is not a deep red but a pale pink because of the fine web of white fat that permeates the red flesh. Top-quality toro is often a brownish red.
Yes I understood that Tuna can be Ruby to Pink, hamachi is a very light pink.
The stuff I am referring to at RTM is oxidised grey-ish brown, very different from any shade on the pink scale................ and cannot be remotely equated with freshness.
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Where/what is Yasuda?
Sushi Yasuda.
43rd between 2nd and 3rd.
Manhattan
Best Sushi in Manhattan (In my opinion that I have eaten so far)
Sit at the Bar.
Otherwise
Karumazushi....
Read the NY Board....
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PS the dirty table thing was probably related to eating in a garden restaurant during one of the worst pollen
That's a not so good excuse....
It was actually due to the servers not doing thier sidework before the restaurant opens and no management to oversee that it was being done.
Ultimately, it's an issue of people taking the time to do things properly.
The table wasnt coverred with pollen, leaves or plant matter.
It was covered with dirt.
The kind of dirt that is created when dust is attracted to a surface with a slightly oily film.
If you are serving outside, you ought to be aware of these things.
The first thing that happens when you sit in any outdoor table in philly or New York is that a busboy cleans or at least makes sure it is clean.
It's Inept for a server to set silverware and napkins on a table that is obviously filthy.
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Goes through a color change....turns Grey.
To expand, I generally avoid eating Tuna period........except at Yasuda.
Pick a random market like say Reading Terminal.
The best fish there is 3 to 5 days out of the water when it arrives and consider it stays there for about 6 to 9 days. It's quite possible that most people are consuming fish that is more than a week old.
The good thing about TUNA is that it is ruby red and as it gets older, it gets grey.
All the Tuna that comes into RTM comes in Ruby and expensive.
They label it "sushi grade"...but it isnt really....its good but just not sushi grade.
As it gets older, they slice it and call it "chunk Tuna" and lower the price by a third.
What then seems to you like a good buy is actually a ticket on the bus to the gastroenterologist's office.
So Look at the Color.........
BUT........Stop the presses.........
One of the worst things about our capitalist society is there are waves of A**Holes just waiting to take advantage of the dining public with unethical activity to extend thier profit margins.
As it turns out, a lot of unscrupulous seafood distributors are now subjecting Tuna loins to a treatment of Carbon Monoxide gas which acts as a very effective color change retardant so that fish that looks 3 days old is actually 10 days old and command's a premium price.
Shady...Shady.........
tsk tsk.....
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/06/dining/0...&partner=rssnyt
Let me go on a limb and read you mind......
Obvious question....."does this happen to other fish"?
Answer......NO, they just marinate it for you...........ooouuahhahhah (james bond villain in a wheelchair with a cat -Laugh)
I assure you buying pre-marinated fish is a bad bad idea.
Toodle- oooo
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Is Gayle-ish a positive nod or less than positive? I got the impression it was not positive. I do, however, agree they have some weird pairings indeed but we all really loved the food when we were there.
Actually It's neither as I havent actually been to Gayle yet.
My term "Gayle-ish" wierd just refer's to the fact that they pair fresh un-oxidised Tuna with lamb.
Again, I havent had the dish but I think most people would agree it's wierd and I suspect it doesnt work....?
Did you try it ?
"Tastes of Tuna and lamb" ?
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thanks for taking the bullet.
It was more like an RPG....
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Dont get me wrong, my post wasnt to gloat and trash the place, I want more than anything else for the hard work that chef's do to be communicated to diners, I want people to eat lovely well prepared food but I am really confounded by why these places open without being thought out and no oversight.
Do they do dry runs ?
Who the hell attended and tld them everything was Ok ?
The prices were in the BYO range and the menu seems interesting except for a few Gayle-ish wierd pairings.....
Island Creek Oysters wrapped in Nueske bacon.......the only thing that should come in contact with nueske bacon is your mouth.....
"wild copper river salmon with cucumber-feta salad, extra virgin lemon oil"
What is the point of buying copper river salmon if you are going to eat it with feta cheese ???
It's like washing your car with an Hermes Scarf......and there is no such thing as "extra virgin Lemon oil"......
My personal pet peeve on menu's this days is when restaurants feel to announce that they...
"use only the freshest local products"
But that's because the public eats it up.....
Fresh and Local have nothing to do with each other........!!!!
How about just .........seasoning the food....a novel Idea......
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Happened to be walking around Washington Square last nite and ran into a restaurant I had no idea was there.
Restaurant is called "M" with an odd gigantic yellow foam "M" sitting in the garden.
Menu looked interesting, very Django-Marigoldish so I decided to throw myself to the sword and try some food.
Unfortunately, the whole experience was abjectly disappointing, It was more like throwing myself to hungry wolves.
Here is how it goes......
They have a *lovely* huge outdoor garden, apparently the complex is a bed and breakfast called the Morris House, they have a liquor license and small bar with interior seating for about 40 people.
Take the rest of the review with a grain of salt as the place has been open for only two weeks however, they seem to need an entirely new manager and service staff, there was absolutely no oversight in the dining room. Communication and coordination were just so non-existent, if this was Cirque de Soleil, there would be trauma surgeons standing by......
I sat in the garden and was asked what I wanted a drink with no attempt to provide a wine list.
The tables were filthy, not in a dirty way but extremely dusty.
To further compound that, they brought out silverware and napkin and placed it on the dirty table.
A previous table that had departed next to me still had a chewed lemon wedge and a straw on it.
My water glass came with an obvious undetermined piece of "flotsam" in it.
I ordered 3 apps, soup, foie gras, oysters.
the menu I was presented with was dated june 9th so I asked the server if the menu was the same today, she said she wasnt sure but would check.
I ordered a chilled watermelon cucumber soup.
Food runner came with what turned out to be Parsnip soup.
No further communication from server.
Tried the soup anyway.
It was terrible, no salt period.
Consitency was a litle thinner than mashed potatoes.
I asked the food runner if the foie gras was the same as i ordered and requested a copy of the current menu. He said yes it was.
Foie was delivered to table, it was different.
It was huge but Greasy and completely unseasoned, it was also B or C grade Foie.
Served on top of an inedible toasted slice of baguette ......
Cancelled my oyster order, requested the check and left.
A complete waste of time.
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any chance the local politico's, landlords, property mgrs in philly are reading this? any chance they care?
Nope.....
Too busy reading surveillance reports from Foie Gras farms.......
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Did Greg Ling have deeper pockets behind him?
Um....Yes.
Actually Raw was built and concieved without any input from Greg Ling.
He came into the operation much later after it was built.
TONY...the owner has buckets of money from previously being involved in cellphone distribution and he basically wanted a sushi bar and lounge for him and his pals to hangout.
Tony is a great guy and he basically spent whatever it took............BUT he did all the renovations and work himself with mostly free rent during construction from Goldman Properties.
thereby circumventing all the BS Lazrow had to deal with.
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You see folks some of things that all have brought up are great, but some flaws. Technically speaking on paper it could work outside the city. Let us take a look at an area that I am familiar with, Green street and above Callow Hill. Let us call it Fairmount. This too me is a gold mine. Great residential locations, good walk ability. Nice all around area. Why no more restaurants? Well I lived on green street for about 4 years and Wallace street for about 4 years. So I saw the change in the neighborhood. But it really did not change too much. Rent got a lot a lot higher, but the drugs were still at the end of the corner. Run down houses, right next to condos that were going for 400k. No one wants to go and fight parking, the drug corners and feel unsafe to go to a restuarant no matter how good.
The rent goes up way to fast to coincide with the gentrification of the neighborhood. Making it impossible for a up and coming restuarant to afford a place.
Let us also look at a vacant restaurant Cuvvee Notredame. ( Sniff Sniff... )
I bet you, and i have not been to Philly for quite some time that it is still vacant.
Still. Still. Why? I can come up with a couple of theories. But I happened to see the previous tenants rental agreement, I would have left in the night too.
Back to my hypocricy argument Matt....
Not to turn this into a bitching thread, majority of the people out there I believe are hypocrites because while they lament the quality of restaurants, everything they do is designed to undermine better restaurants opening.
You have to kiss the "community associations's asses"
those "union laborers" who get thier panties in a bunch if you try to build your restaurant quickly with non union labor....
The liquor license attorney who charges you $5000 for 3 hrs of work.....
The neighborhood folks who say your prices are not "neighborhoody" like everyone is supposed to be freaking Dmitris cooking everything on the same 4x5 griddle and the vegetables taste like fish........
Arggghhhhhh....
Poor paul Lazrow indeed....
Copper River King Salmon
in Pennsylvania: Dining
Posted
I personally never cook sockeye salmon , I find it too dry because of it's low fat content.
it dries out quickly and just doesnt have that umamilicious taste of king or even scottish/atlantic.
I have done it Cured/slow roast, grilled, pan roasted, misoyaki, teriyaki, shabu shabu.
It's just dry..........
HOWEVER....There are two dishes in my bag-o-tricks that I use sockeye for.
The fish aint the main attraction though.
Both take advantage of its lovely bright orange color.
1. I cure it with the "aforementioned cure", rinse and dry it in the fridge uncovered for 1 day.
(requires a monk-ishly clean refrigerator)
I then slice it superthin about as wide as a sheet of pasta and use it to wrap a salmon tartare
made with king salmon, lemon oil, yuzu......so it looks like a canelloni after you trim the edges.
It is served with a fennel salad and granny smith apple chips.
2. I cure it with "ze cure" plus fennel seeds and then confit in duck fat at 62C for 12 minute per
4oz.
It is served with a Crisp pork belly, sauerkraut spatzle and long pepper jus and a fried quail
egg on top of ze fish.
A bit ambitious for the home cook .......
but quite tasty indeed.