Vadouvan

Yawn! Just like the new york thread, this one is going to get very silly and pointless quickly. A Philadelphian says something in disfavor of NYC, a NYer says something in disfavor of Philly. Who wins ? Nobody. Both cities have thier merits for dining. More Variety in NY, enough choices in Philly, lots of BYO's. Django was a good restaurant, It isnt by any means quantifiably 100times better than Babbo. They have an excellent wine list, way better pasta dishes than django, better atmosphere and quite frankly its a different kind of restaurant.....Just like both cities are ! The comparison is absurd. Promoting Philly by defending Django by Trashing Mario Batali's original Flagship restaurant is a no win argument.....as is the whole thread.

The skepticism in NY isnt based on the fact that it comes from Philly. The Ny food elite is just skeptical period. Alain Ducasse got the same warm welcome and he was coming from Paris and Monte Carlo, Although the skeptism in NY is slightly harsh based on the fact that most of the people havent actually tried it, it is definitely clear that the food based on Volume will *definitely* not be as good as the top end New York sushi and Omakase you get at places like Yasuda and Karumazushi. It isnt an attack on Starr per se, remember even the Nobu's arent as good as Yasuda/Karumazushi. All that is besides the point, any 200 seat restaurant in the meat packing district isnt going to get all the attention to detail it wants, its about making $$$$$. And that it will.

It's not a sushi elite ringing endorsement, my point is people trashing it saying the food will be mass produced and not as good as places like yasuda are preaching to the choir. But just cause it's nothing new doesnt mean it's going to suck. Besides I went to the restaurant before reaching my conclusions ...! AHEM.

Agree with your point Katie. In fact your key point of getting out of Nobu's shadow is exactly the reason they opened in Phila first coupled with the fact that cost are much more sensible here. Morimoto phila cost 2.5 to 3 million, in comparison..Ny 10 to 12 Million. Of course both numbers are severly inflated for PR purposes but back to the food. All the food that was being served in the first 6 months of Morimotophila were basically out of the First Nobu book. Granted he was head sushi chef there but jeez, there just was no Imagination......... but you can get away with that in philly since very few people realise it. If you remove all the fluff like shaved daikon and mountain peach, all the food at the phila outpost is basically more boring pan Asian. For all the money you spend, you can get those dishes cheaper or/and better. Matt Ito blows them away on most cooked Items and Sagami definitely nails them on both Hamachi Kama and Nasu Shigiyaki. The oyster program is al NObu, creamy spicy sauce, aji panca. aji amarillo, maui onion ect ect. Yes Starr did say they will fly in fish from Japan, lots of people do, Megu, Masa, Yasuda ect ect. By the way, the best dish on the menu at philly morimoto is the ramen noodles soup.

The Irony of scrambled eggs on a chiiiiiiiiiily sunday morning philadining.. He he...

Its been around for about two years at least. Its a hybrid / Morph of ASParagus and Broccoli. Welcome to the world of genetic engineeering.

Combination of factors. Celery which gets bitter. Plus your wood was burning instaed of generating a light smoke. Not only bitter but also carcinogenic. I find that I control smoke better with sawdust instead of woodchips soaked or not. I dont know if you are in NYC but if so, I have found that the best way to smoke without generating bitter soot is to use these smoke incense sticks. They are the freaking best. http://www.korin.com/product.php?pid=425&c...&mnum=TK-634-02 I think you can actually mail order so you can get it anywhere. trust me it works......really well.

Has anyone been, word is he went to train at the Bulli and is doing "modern spanish" plus a pastry chef from the WD 50 ? Sounds interesting....

Um.... Next door Nobu and Nobu57 are well executed Nobu knock-offs. Ultimately critics of these places are missing the point, its the same purist argument you heard when Megu, ONO and EN Brasserie opened. It aint about the food, it's about $$$$$. No it wont be on the top ten japanese restaurants in the city but it will be in the top 5 $$$ sales, that's why they coughed up $10 million. Last summer when they saw a sea of people trooping in and out of spice market, they figured it out. I assure you, more than the purists, the people least interested in these two places opening are Mssrs Vongerichten/Suarez/Chodorow. Im not saying people are going to stop going to spice market or Ono but those cash cows are going on a diet next spring. just watch. Why do you think Starr had the party and invited all the "neighbors" ? It's called a "FU" party in the industry..... as in "FU, we are going to split your customer base and tap into all this cash flowing around"

1.NY Vs Phila. Have to agree with BUX, really pointless discussion. No reason to compare, both cities should celebrate the strength's of thier respective dining scenes. There is always a better city. Phila isnt trying to be and doesnt want to be NY. There is just as much crap in NY as there is in philly, look at Express on Park south, food is garbage but its still wall to wall people. 2. Morimoto/Buddakan Culinary merits. Stephen Starr isnt spending $20 million on two restaurants in the meat packing district because he is interested in James beard awards. Its about money, has nothing to do with philly food scene. If ONO, Spice market and Matsuri are packed, Buddakan and morimoto *will* be packed despite what any of the purist say. That's why they sell specialty cocktails. The demographic is very specific and I doubt it intersects with those who love Yasuda and Karumazushi. Most of the people who go to Morimoto Phila are out of towners, same thing will happen in Ny on weekends. 3. La Colombe coffee *ONLY* tastes really really good at the cafe on 19th and sansom. I had it at Ducasse and it wasnt nearly as good. There is excellent espresso in NY too, St Ambreous on 77th and Madison for example.

Feezing is fine as long as you freeze properly. Use Airtight containers. Tomato presents no problem. Bring the sauce back to a boil for 45 seconds and swirl the pot around. You would whisk gently too. UP to One month : Simply freeze in airtight tupperware. Up to 3 months: You can pop out the frozen blocks from above after they are solid and cryovac them almost indefinitely without discernible quality loss. (Stock only not sauce).

To each his own.. But my point is the modern restaurants of today rarely if ever make a la minute sauces. Its much more economically sensible(not to mention quality and consistency) to make sauces from meat and fisfh scraps and stocks. I am pretty certain the sauces I have had at per se, gilt J georges, ducasse arent a la minute.

Chatted with Morimoto GM yesterday, Fand F monday, open by the end of the month which is next tuesday.

Correct, if "money was truly no object" It removes all qualifiers. You could live anywhere comfortable, call your car service and be driven anywhere in 25 minutes to eat anything. All the answers are fine but its the question thats confusing. The kind of wealth you describe as "money is no object" basically means you can get anything anytime, go anywhere anytime with less effort than if money was an object.

There is no confusion. I attribute the different opinions to the fact that the e-gullet forum is populated by both professional restaurant cooks and amateur home cooks. Not to be disparaging of home cooks but the point is most professional cooks have automatic built in clarification when certain instructions are given, which is why technique is important. If you say "Saute the Black bass" to a restaurant cook, I most certainly assure you they have no intentions of shaking it although they realise it is going to be sauteed in hot oil. *Even* if you were to "saute" chunks of meat in hot oil to brown them, any serious cook knows that the only way to brown evenly is to use tongs to turn the meat not to shake the pan. Assuming each piece of meat has minimum 4 surfaces to brown due to the irregular trapezoidal shape, the statistical probabilty of shaking a pan with 8 to 12 pieces of meat (32 to 48 surfaces)... and assuring that every time you shake the pan, an entirely unbrowned surface out of all 32 to 48 surfaces faces down each time.............is about the same as the statistical probability of rolling 12 dice at once and rolling 12 of any of the same number (1 thru 6). That doesnt even factor in the time constraints of high heat cooking, which is why tongs are used. "Searing" also does not neccesarily mean that the item being seared is cooked to completion. Seared Scallops for example are cooked in 2 minutes but one can also sear a chunk of meat before long slow braising. sorry to be so mathemathical about it ..........but seriously, that "shaking" thing is played out. By the way PICnicchef..... to your query, based on size of fish and cutting method (filet, Tranche, paupiette) it is posssible to pan roast to med rare and use carry over heat to cook salmon or other fish perfectly without going in the oven at all. Also in the current concept of modern kitchen, i would be quite suprised if anybody makes a-la minute sauces such as beurre blanc. I think all sauces are just made and held without depending on "fonds" from the cooking.

Never heard of it but it sounds interesting. Only problem is that a plate that hot would curdle or scorch any sauce or accompaniment used with the fish..........unless that was just to hold it hot and then the fish is transferred to another actual serving plate. Picnicchef is correct, the whole issue of Sauteeing requiring shaking of the pan is BS. At CIA, Cordon Bleu Paris, Ritz Ecole place vendome, the term "saute" meaning to "jump" was described as the pan so hot that the food jumps not because the pan shakes. Also...Barley Risotto isnt risotto. "risotto" isnt an adjective, its a specific preparation that requires rice. More logic : on the island of Sardinia.... Fregola is cooked exactly the way risotto is cooked but it is called Fregola sarda not fregola "risotto".

Yes I am aware of the historical contextual French but cooking evolves and certain terms referring to cooking methods have grey areas between them. If anything, this isnt as bad as the misuse of classic preparations. What are your thoughts on the following ? Hopefully you get a good laugh from it at least.. 1.Barley Risotto (no rice) 2.Tomato Confit (no native fat) 3.Eggplant Caviar (no fish eggs) 4.Squash Bisque (no shellfish) 5.Cilantro Pesto (no basil) 6.leek fondue (no cheese) New thread on bastardisation ?

I meant 1qt 2ozs not 12oz. Still that is I L for grapeseed as opposed to 3 for canola at the same cost. In the bigger picture, that's still plenty of Oil. If I am shelling out upwards of $15 per pound for premium seafood, I will take my chances with grapeseed any day. Still has the highest smoke point. Between the Keller nut oils and Manni olive oils, trust me its a bargain

Not True. The term "SAUTE" can be used to describe fish being cooked at high heat. The "shaking" has nothing to do with sauteeing other than being a functional way to move the meat around. In most cases with meat. you need to use long tongs to turn the meat so you can brown it evenly. FRYING : can be deep or shallow. Even shallow frying requires 5 to 10 times more oil than sauteeing. A lot of the high end restaurants in Europe and America do use teflon pans for fragile fish. We arent talking about Dupont pans from bed bath and Beyond, this is what good restaurants use.. http://www.world-cuisine.com/alias.cfm/Choc_Ceramic/ I believe the knife thing was a Thomas Keller technique.

12 Fluid ounces of Grapeseed oil by Monini $7.95 same of Canola $2.95 Sure you may save $5 but Canola oil is industrial garbage. There is no such thing as a "canola" The OP is completely confused right now which goes to show different folks have different methods. Some things are universally agreed to. 1. Grapeseed oil is better though you can use any good vegetable oil. 2. You dont need any flour wondra or otherwise if you use a teflon pan and dry your fish. 3. Butter burns which was the reason to use grapeseed oil in the first place, why then baste with burnt butter, thats retarded.

To TAUBEARS response i would add...... If you are inclined to spend any $$ in the future towards this endeavor... Get a high quality teflon pan like the "CHOC" ceramic from france. Follow taubears instructions. I use one of those cheap hamburger weights to hold down some fishes so the skin crisps evenly. As far as turning it once, that only applies to flat fragile fish. In fact you can crisp all 4 sides of a salmon filet if it is neatly cut. 8 oz piece 2 minutes skin side, 1 minute every other side. Let it rest skin side up for a few mins, should be nice and moist inside.

Its just all Whiny BS. Gilt isnt ripping anyone off. Its an expensive place, dont want to go ? There are lots of other restaurants on the island. The fact that two people in the same industry have the same opinion isnt a definite barometer of credibility. I am suspicious of food writers in general and I dont really think they reach independent conclusions. I am sure cuozzo read Bruni's article last week, its just as possible he may have been influenced by it.........as it is that he reached his own independent conclusions so that theory does not work. happens all the time. Every high end restaurant in NY has incredible markups on wine. Every high end restaurant in NY peddles bottled water. Its hypocrisy using GILt as a scapegoat. They do the same thing at Ducasse, Per Se, JG, daniel,Marche, Cru, Bernadin ect ect.

Cant modify the rules..... Wanna go to the superbowl ? gotta make the playoffs. Thats the deal. All that is achievable by just about any circulating bath you buy as long as the product isnt frozen when you put it in. The kind of microprocessor and heating pump that would make it possible isnt in that price range. I am assuming the answer is we cant do it ?

Which proves my ultimate point, I wasnt suggesting you work for minimum wage, my point was even if you factor in the lowest allowable wage (minimum wage), it frankly isnt even worth the invested time to run around and build something that does not work properly. A lot of people just like to type counterpoints that are invalid just to rebel against established sytem/status quo but when it comes to delivering the goods ??? Fizzles out. Mty offer still stands.

Sorry to keep making this more difficult, but in all fairness, just so nobody burns the house down.... it would be nice if said machine was UL certified. He he.