freshherbs

the burrito place on the west end of anguilla makes remarkably good sf mission style burritos. weird, but true and delicious

how long do you think it will last?

yes to spicy sweet walnuts...love em. also at the old Zinc bar in NYC (now blaue gans) they used to break out the tree of Deviled Eggs in a bunch of different styles. they were delish and helps out with the glutton problem Alchemist mentioned. it is mighty hard to eat more than 2 deviled eggs at a sitting

craft is overpriced. craftbar just isn't that good (but easy to get a table). go to gramercy and eat at the bar. best value, best food, best atmosphere, best cocktails.

I prefer Wylie's quote... "It's my job to cook," he said. "It's your job to come up with names for it."

was there for dinner 3 saturdays ago. had the veal schnitzel with spaetzle. the spaetzle was extremely creamy and didn't have the crunchy fried brownness i am used to...delicious though. can anyone tell me--is this authentic spaetzle or is it typically fried after boiling? wasn't impressed by the service at all. friendliness was one thing, but we waited for 15 minutes for the check while our server tried to fix the register/computer in the back. also, picked up two caramel lollipops on the way out...crazy sweet...

treated myself to two 1608 cocktails last night...courtesy of Gramercy Tavern's Jim Meehan. 1 oz Bushmills 1 oz Lemon Juice 1 oz English Mead 2 dashes Peychauds Bitters Shake first three ingreients with ice. Serve up with lemon peel. Float Peychauds on peel. First cocktails since having a baby two weeks ago. LOVED it at 8 pm. not so hot at the 3 am diaper-change

thanks jojomek!

The Mercer also makes an unexpectedly great brunch spot. it is subterranean so you don't get sunlight, but still very stylish. shopsin's on carmine is also a pretty great place. not necessarily a beautiful person scene, but a great place and a high celebrity-sighting factor

Pampero rocks, but I prefer the Ron Anejo Especial. in my mind, best value for the dollar. available widely in europe and in duty free sometimes too. give me a bottle of this and a handful of limes and i am a happy man.

hi everyone, i got an Avanti WC 492D. holds about 25 bottles. so far so good. looks like i will be storing some reds and whites. any thoughts on optimal temperature?

Not in entire disagreement with that, but I think WD-50's kitchen needs him more than the others I mentioned above. Maybe I'll try to eat there on a Sunday. ← being a people manager and a good chef have overlapping similarities but are mostly different skill sets, no? a truly great chef must run a tight, cosnistent kitchen...but a truly inventive chef must only be, well, truly inventive. at the very least, i would say that the knowledge and professionalism of the wait staff speaks to chef dufresne's management. my own experience there has been quite consistent in execution...just not always to my taste. i would also agree with rich that his kitchen needs him more than others considering a) the amount of turnover in the industry and b) the complexity/novelty of the processes. all that being said, i can think of no two people who i would rather learn from/observe/eat from than chefs dufresne and mason. i'll give up a little managerial skill for a bit of rock and roll any day

interesting stuff in the latter part of this thread. a few things of note (full disclosure, I work in the bev alc business for some of the brands mentioned above): - Anheuser Busch has strongly started marketing "beer cocktails". yes, cocktails made with beer. can't link to it here, but go to www.budweisier.com, then click "beer", then "innovation". there are four recipes. a couple are technically probably "shandies". and a few call for liqueur. interesting...or gross...or desperate. or all of the above - yes, PBR started "underground", but not much of it was "to Pabst's astonishment". that was one of the most well-orchestrated marketing campaigns in beer in a long time. PBR has been running this marketing program for a while. - re: "educate your children" about malt beverages not having spirits in them. not sure what the point is here...that your children should know they aren't drinking the hard stuff? more to the point, i think we should make sure children aren't drinking. period. - finally...sake. we will see sake growing. and we will see it both in the higher end (as a wine replacement) and at a mainstream level (in use for cocktails). Both of these, to me, are valid and exciting. that's my rant

by the way, KatieLoeb, at the time of original posting I made the TMUTMD upon your suggestion with Tanq 10 and it was deelish. (full disclosure: I work for the company that makes Tanq so I start most cocktails with it!)

palatachafaphobia: fear of cutting the roof of my mouth when eating sandwiches made with a crusty roll or a too-large spoonful of Capn Crunch i often eat sandwiches upside-down (the sandwich, not me)

I have tried both the horseradish and the basil. they are both *okay*. for me the horseradish wasn't strong enough and the basil was a bit off. neither was high quality enough to be sipped neat/over ice, nor strongly flavored enough to stand up in a cocktail. i do agree, however, that the horseradish/oyster combo sounds amazing. so maybe these are meant for food...but i don't think there is a business case to be made there. overall i think it is a strong idea, and could be brilliant if executed properly.

freshherbs, What was your recipe? I'd try Eric's but rosemary flowers aren't likely to be in my future unless I grow them myself so if you happen to check in before Katie has a chance to check with her kitchen staff I'd be grateful for any pointers you'd care to provide. Thanks. Kurt ← pretty simple really. made a simple and then turned the flame off under the pan. added about a tbsp of fresh rosemary leaves (if that is what they are called). i strip them from the stem, bruised them a bit and let them steep until syrup was cooled. then i strained it. came out beautifully--not too strong.

just as an interesting piece of historical trivia... Old Tom is a remaining example of the original lightly sweetened gins that were so popular in 18th-century England. The name comes from what may be the first example of a beverage vending machine. In the 1700s some pubs in England would have a wooden plaque shaped like a black cat (an "Old Tom") mounted on the outside wall. Thirsty passersby would deposit a penny in the cat’s mouth and place their lips around a small tube between the cat’s paws. The bartender inside would then pour a shot of Gin through the tube and into the customer’s waiting mouth. Until fairly recently limited quantities of Old Tom-style Gin were still being made by a few British distillers, but they were, at best, curiosity items.

thanks for the tips everybody. i'll let you know what i decide on and how it works out...

thanks everyone, that is helpful. unfortunately I have to agree with both dinwiddie and NYC Mike-- I will probably buy a fridge that is too small, but it is all I can fit in my NYC apartment. while i am at it...what is the proper temp to store reds?

who doesn't like licking salt off of a plate

I am looking to buy a free-standing wine fridge in lieu of a cellar to store/age some bottles. i have less than 30 bottles and would like to spend less than $300. any suggestions

no, I meant upgrade more in the way that I am a snob and like rum better than vodka...

A friend and I are having an argument. We are both in the bar business and want to find ways to upgrade people from vodka to rum She says that vodka drinkers (read: cosmos, v&t's) love mojitos and that it is an easy way to get them to try rum. I say that vodka drinkers don't drink mojitos. They like their cosmos and if we want them to drink rum, we should make cosmos with rum. any thoughts on this?