stealw

Went to Dukem this morning for lunch after a visit to Ben's Chili Bowl (which was good)across the road. (Btw never heard of Dukem before, first time in D.C just happened to stroll around) Took them little bit over 20 minutes to make my beef tib dish. Only thing memorable about that meal was the twenty minute wait. Beef was very overcooked and tough. Bread was alright, little too sour for my taste. Their dukem sauce tasted somewhat bitter and off (though may be made this way, first time trying). Somewhat like a mole if you will. Jim

Went over the weekend for dinner. Overall was alright, nothing spectacular, though was what I went in expecting. There was one waitress for the entire place. Though small, she worked hard. Weirdly there were at least 2 or 3 other people just lingering around next to the kitchen in back, not cooks nor servers.. Anyways..on to the food. Most of the appetizers didn't appeal to me, most if not all were salads. So we just opt'd for entree's. Salmon with asian greens and orange-soy sauce Meatloaf with mashed potatoes and mixed vege (mine). Moist loaf though no real flavor depth in it. Spaghetti Bolognese Fettucini with Mixed Mushrooms The restaurant was quite hot inside; I don't think they have central air. Insead, they have a portable a/c unit plugged into the wall. Sitting near the entrance I could barely feel anything. Blu was closed for renovations for a month or so, so guess all their business went to next door. Overall: recommended, good portions, good pricing and friendly server. Jim

Not to hijack this thread.. I googled this and found no hits, are those two names the name of the restaurant? Like i.e. Olive Garden, or Macaroni Grill. Or two separate entities? Got one hit on a "Obris Bistro" and another as "Culinariane". Back on related, how would you rate this against say, Blu in Montclair? My experience at Blu was mediocre, though may go visit next door this weekend for dinner.

You could always start staging/trailing in restaurants to see if its really for you. Or even take a week off from work (as a vacation break) and work full time in restaurant to see if it's your thing. Another option is just become a food enthusiast..each weekend just cook hardcore with whatever theme/topic or cravings you have. Also could self teach yourself in various topics, such as wines for example. Though wines takes awhile to develop a palate and to understand, though all worth the journey. Jim

Very interesting; never heard or thought about this.. At first I thought you made that up, though after some brief googling.. http://www.chow.com/stories/11088 more poking around.. http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/1...journalCode=jam Lemon juice itself is 2.3 already (for you non chemistry folks 7 is neutral 0-14 (lower is more acidic)) So I suppose the point of this, is just support klkruger and teach myself something new who wouda knew.. Jim

At Maze they have a lunch 3course..for i think 30pounds Went back in May, quite good. Though ordered other things off the menu which came out to around 100usd. (like the blt and foie gras) Another place i dined at was Twelve, it was quite mediocre, nothing special at all. Small restaurant located bottom of a hotel. Jim P.s. Had some nice Lamb Doner street food in London, primarily Right across my hotel in Islington (Hilton). Don't really get/nor see much of that in America.

The way I look at it, either you can or you can't. The ones whom "can't" either write it down or eventually get weeded out. Personally the more times you practice call backs, the more it helps your memory. Though obviously when a ten top comes in follow by several deuses it's certainly going to get confusing. Thus why you ask to verify or the sous/expo would do so anyways to double check. Another way we do it in the restaurant, say on a protein station for example; you arrange the orders chronologically as they come in. So for example if I pulled 5 duck breasts, I would arrange them 3then2 (or whatever) so I would know how many on the board..then after I rendered the fat or whatever, I would let them rest the same order.

Good points there, too bad most restaurant these days don't follow the suit. Generally whomever takes down reservations stack the seatings somewhat well enough for the restaurant to run smoothly. Though occasions such as holidays, or lunch for example, where you get slammed real hard real fast at around 1pm. It's quite hard to avoid the cluster f of tickets all at once. Yet the push is always thrilling

Eh, I went here a month or two ago. Wasn't too pleased at all. Not only was it very hot and humid inside, but the service/food was nothing too wowing. The hot dog itself was quite good, yet all the other condiments masked the flavor of everything and sogged the buns. Perhaps another visit will soothe my unfortunate visit..one day... Jim

Ha. Actually last weekend I was browsing a wine/liquor store in another town I rarely visit. Anyways, this one bottle caught my eye, a Cava... Usually the bottles are mediocre, maybe a nice design here or there. Yet this one was like, Whoa!. It was a bottle of Segura Viudas, though it may seem quite common; it was the first time I saw it. Being so mesmerized I had to get it, only mid 20s, not too bad. Don't have a picture, though can see via link http://images.send.com/100063_big.jpg

Went to Twelve about two weeks ago. Went around pre-theatre time, place was virtually empty beside a table or two (on a Friday). Started first off with linguini and simple tomato sauce, entree was a roasted baby chicken and I too also finished off with a semi-fredo. Appetizer and dessert faired fairly well, though entree (roasted baby chicken) was relatively dry. I a long with three others ordered the same and all had an unpleasant experience with it. They had, if my memory serves me right 3 "servers/runners" and the manager who also worked the floor. All but the manager was quite hard to communicate with due to slight language barrier (I spoke english). Each server attended to our table at random various times making it kind of confusing to ask specifically one person for help or anything. Also, found out through the manager that night that the chef had taken the night off, perhaps letting the line cooks with a sous to fend for themselves. Quite taken back I was considering it was a Friday.

Went there about two weeks ago for lunch on a Saturday, service and food quality overall was pretty good. Though for some reason our desserts took extremely long for no apparent reason (over 20 minutes). Being my first time in London and as well as Maze I would fair it a 8 out of 10, nothing too mind blowing. Oh, also got the croque monsieur blt, quite surprised on their presentation. Was served in a martini glass 'decomposed' per se.

Is it me, or does the winners of HK seems to receive a "better" reward for winning. Comparing skill level it is night and day, if any of the contestants were to swapt it would be obvious of the outcomes... Anyways, casting call for next season of TC going out real soon.

Really depends on where you live and the business of the restaurant. Therefore I cant really speak for any other restaurants besides NJ/NYC which I have worked. But primarily in the City we would get deliveries almost everyday (fairly busy/big rest.). What Bourdain said was true too; they do not deliver on weekends, so therefore Fridays shipment is the biggest so it lasts the weekend. Once again, this is just from my own experience. Smaller restaurants would perhaps order enough to last couple days, but in the case of sushi I would just trust your own instincts on their customer base. Oh and supermarkets..I usually just stir up a casual convo with the monger/worker there to see what day(s) they get deliveries. Prob most of the time they would say its daily, which once again depends on their business. But even so, sometimes when I look at their filleting jobs; looks like they massacred them with rocks. Jim

Wow, is all I have to say. Quite envious I am as well.

Ha; quite interesting..there was also a paper on that in the Poughkeepsie Journal a week ago or so. Good thing I just graduated right before this happened; though coming back real soon for my bachelors, kinda making me rethink it though Jim

If you're into growing your own herbs; the herb guys should be in about this time. Last year about same time i bought a basil plant, was maybe 3,4 dollars it bloomed into this huge plant. Quite the fun investment

Perhaps the main reason culinary schools give such "crap" sets is because they do it to piss off off..actually I have no idea. But when my CIA knife kit wasn't too bad, besides the obviously few which are down right miserable. For example our perisan scoop (melon baller), snapped every time we used it on something besides over riped fruits. Also the strongest meanest peeler i've encountered in my entire life, when we peeled asparagus for example, it literally stripped half of it off. Not to mention the entire thing was stainless steel, which was probably a pound or so. Though also attended FCI (french cul. in nyc) they too require you to purchase the entire set which is part of your tuition. Unlike the CIA, the FCI gives you this massive construction like toolbox which every tool you have goes in, also a separate knife kit which is quite cumbersome to haul around not to mention. Though out of both tool kits I received; the chef knife was always the best part of the kit i found. Still use the CIA knife to hack away bones and whatnot. Kind of pick through the good stuff, then recycle the rest to friends and family. Jim

You can make a lovely fava spread from these: cook till tender, in food processor or similar blend with garlic, oilive oil, lemon juice and some chili flakes and even add some tahini if you'd like. Play around, have fun and make your own special spread. To cook fava's you could either pre-blanch then peel, or if you want to cook and serve them whole they retain the color much better if they are pre-peeled first. Though pre-peeling is a lot harder fyi, yet in the long run better looking. edit** something just jolted in my head; can use this simple yet delicious recipe we once did at a restaurant i worked at fava bean bruscetta: batard bread or any thick yummy crusty bread: toast and rub with garlic- ~1" thick take about 1/4 cup cooked fava's, couple sprigs of blanched fresh tarragon and puree together, thin out with stock (or better yet, the blanching tarragon water) melt some fontina cheese (2oz) take toast, spread cheese on bottom, fava spread on top of that, then finish with some fresh beans and some taragon sprgs.

Wow looks very good. Just curious; what did you put on top of your salmon? Soy/miso glaze of sorts? Jim

Stopped by today for lunch Darn good pastrami, corned beef was pretty good and brisket was tad over cooked for my taste. 1/2 corned beef, 1/2 pastrami little drips of russian i squirted on what was quite bizzare/"shocking" they do not have any bbq nor hot sauce. But the real thing that caught me off guard when I was chatting with the manager/cashier fellow; said all the meat is made off premise then shipped over and reheated via steamer. Jim

Mickey D's have two sandwiches for $3, biscuit, egg, bacon and cheese

Grace3- Can you elabore more about several of these places you mentioned? I will be going to Paris with couple of my friends in a few weeks and quite interested in checking some of these places out. Can you give a brief overview on what they serve, what you recommend and general price range? Thanks a ton. 1st 2nd Also any pointers for me as a new traveler to Paris and any little secrets you can share? Thanks Jim

Very interesting trip, take pics and update us if ya can. In regards to your concern. Personally I do not find it fitting to ask the Chef to pay you for your stage, generally too short to even be paid and not to mention the paper work you have to do. (Though you said 2 week stage's?...quite a long time so could stir up some benefits I suppose) Only thing that pops right into my head about earning money as you go, are catering events. Not necessarily cooking though, more on the foh serving side which they generally do hire out by day. Good Luck

I'll be going to London quite soon, well end of May for a few days. Does anyone have any good pre-fixe menu type restaurants that they recommend? Either lunch or dinner, price range up to around 30#/pound. Was thinking dining at: Maze-Gordon Ramsey, 4 course- 28.50 pounds. Though no real experience on how they are. also Number Twelve http://www.numbertwelverestaurant.co.uk/ 3course for ~16, not sure who the chef/owners are, but upon some research quite popular and very reasonable Thanks in advance, Jim