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for a really delicious breakfast try Norma's at the Le Parker Meridian, the belgian waffle is delicious, the eggs benedict are great, and my favorite the Arepas are really wonderful. B and although its no Per Se or EMP, if you want to try something wonderful one night try Yakitori Totto at 55th and broadway for a great japanese cuisine experience.

heh, george after hitting both pegu and flatiron last weekend im almost positive that you would find the cocktails too sweet for your palate. and i think in general you could hack off at least a 1/2 ounce of simple syrup from any american recipe you found. even the Eden i had which was a gin and campari drink was sweet with just a hint of bitterness from the campari. just a matter of palate obviously. and im sure if you were sitting at any one of those bars and told them you would like your drinks a bit less sweet they would be happy to make them that way. peace B

hmmm, if anyone can find them "Michter's Small Batch Cocktail Cherries" are really sublime and i wish i had treasured the ones i had more because i didnt realize that they were going to be nearly impossible to find. the only real refference i can find to them on the web is through bobby flay's website. i might have to try calling Michter's and see if they can tell me where to get them. if anyone finds them please let me know. thanks B

im in upstate NY. Im going to talk to the guy who runs the local wine store about it, luckily they have a huge selection of wine and are very passionate about it. For cheese though, its mostly specialty markets manned by college kids, will have to search around and see if i can find anyone who knows their cheeses. thanks B

looking for some breakfast/lunch/dinner ideas. As well as some fun places to party and meet people. Looking for good value meals cant spend rediculous amounts of money, but dont mind to splurge a bit. any other interesting places to go or things to do would be appreciated. My friend and i are both 22 just so you know. thanks B

hey john... so how can i create organization and still keep the costs split up between everyone, hopefully the idea was to make it so a few people pick up wines and a few pick up cheeses and it would switch each week. so should i tell people what they have to buy?? or just give them the themes and hope for the best... or tell one person they need to get a pinot noir, one a cab, one a merlot... etc... tell one person to get an aged dry cheese, another a soft blue, another a soft goat cheese...etc hrmmm B

hmmm.... 1/2 oz licor 43

heh... so i was thinking of that game where each person adds a word and you form a sentence... so why not try it with cocktails.... alittle experiment in group thinking... so it might go something like this.... Graphix: 1.5 oz hendricks gin KatieLoeb: .5 oz dragon fruit puree slkinsey: .5 oz lillet blonde eje: shake and strain splificator: "The dragonfly martini" meh...so it wasnt the best example...but you get the idea... Ill start... 1.5 oz barbancourt 8 year rum

eh...sorry, i think you misunderstood... i meant my friends and i are not experts and do not have wine cellars, didnt mean to imply that anyone on the forum here wasnt an expert or didnt have cellars. just mentioning that we dont have cellars so it will be mostly trips to the wine store to find bottles under 20$ sorry about the confusion. B

well...the truth is none of us are real wine experts, and for the most part we are all just starting to wade into the world of wine... and none of us have cellars lol... i have the advantage of being able to pay wholesale for any wines in the cellar of my family's restaurant... but besides that it will mostly be trips to the wine stores for bottles under 20$ and trips to the market for cheeses... im thinking what i will try is to put everyones name in a hat and draw them out at random to decide who will bring wine,cheese, and snacks... and then just switch them the next week.... hmmm....i donno maybe actually coming up with 3 specific wines and 3 specific cheeses, then drawing names so that way i know there will be consistency between the cheeses and the wines, so we have correct pairings and a variety of wine... going to have to think this out... B

Alright, so me and a few friends are thinking about doing a weekly or bi-weekly wine and cheese night. Im just looking for tips on making it run smoothly...how should i decide who brings what? things like that... would appreciate input from whoever has done something like this. thanks Brendan

i did a search and didnt find anything, but for those of you who know Woot.com there is also a Wine.Woot.com where each week they put up deals on a new set of wines from a vineyard... The thing i found really interesting is the discusions (forum) for each weeks deal, and the fact that vintners and owners were dropping by to answer questions about their wine. the quality of wines will vary greatly on the site im guessing, but im sure if you check it enough you will find a few gems. I picked up one of this weeks deals just on the fact alone that the vintners and owners would take the time to come online and answer peoples questions and for 60$ for 4 bottles its not really breaking the bank. enjoy Brendan

Doc, have you tried Lanci's for italian?? Its a small maybe 10 seat restaurant just off broadway that is supposed to be wonderful. B

heh doc...i could tell stories for days.... im trying to get my dad to write a cookbook based on the stories and recipes of siro's, maybe someday soon we will get started on that. B

heh....strange....i live in saratoga and ive never been to chez sophie... well...another place worth checking out in saratoga is my fathers restaurant.... its called Siro's, its outside the back entrance to the track, only open for 6 weeks of the year. NY prime sirloin, rack of lamb, veal chop are all pretty good. If you plan on having a full diner with wine plan on spending 100+ per person. hmmm...going to have to make a reservation at chez sophie. peace, B

surprised, although its not a dish....that temperature and cooking meets to the right temp hasnt come up. Im not a great chef, but its always amazed me how my dad can press ona steak, piece of fish, chicken, lamb, etc etc and know that it needs 20 seconds on this side, then 2 minutes on the other. My dads restaurant has a broiler that is terribly uneven with heat distribution, but the chef who works it can pump out 100's of steaks, racks, and chops each week and rarely ever have one come back. that, and the ability to make great sauces...

yea...just made 2oz lairds applejack 1 oz belle de brillet 1/2 lemon squeezed 1/2 tspn sugar shake, strain intoa chilled flute, garnish with a twist yummyyyyy B p.s. -- really yummy

i got to play with this at cocktails in the country...and now that ive seen this thread im going to make a sidecar with lairds applejack and belle de brillet... i gave a taste of this to our pastry chef and his eyes lit up! i would say you can sub this in most cointreau cases... pear margarita? rum, brillet, lime? their website suggests.. brillet royale - 1/4 brillet, 3/4 champ. brillet summertime - 1/7 brillet, 6/7 iced tea brillet sour - 3/4 brillet, 1/4 lemon crushed ice here are some of the recipes our class came up with...some are a bit wild because of all the good stuff to play with London Fruit Cup 2 slices orange with rind removed 3 fresh raspberries 3 fresh mint leaves 2 ounces Tanqueray No. TEN 1 ounce Belle de Brillet 1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice 1/2 ounce simple syrup 1 orange twist, for garnish Muddle the orange, raspberries, and mint in a mixing glass. Add the remaining ingredients. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Add the garnish. Prickly Pear 2 ounces Herradura Reposado tequila 1 ounce Belle de Brillet 1/2 ounce fresh lime juice Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Michael's Grouse 2 ounces Famous Grouse scotch 1/2 ounce Belle de Brillet 1 splash Drambuie Stir and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. enjoy.. B

So i have the small (a.k.a. giant) task of reorganizing a wine cellar for my family's restaurant. its about 160 different reds and 40 whites. were only open for 6 weeks out of the year and we go through anywhere from 30-100+ bottles a day for those 6 weeks. Looking for a way to track cases/bottles in and bottles out...wholesale vs retail cost comparison...etc etc. Its cetainly not an ideal cellar so things easily get jumbled... i have metro shelving coming that will hold upwards of 1000 bottles this is to be used for something like 130 bin numbers. Any software solutions? Ive looked at cellartracker.com and im not sure that it will be ideal for my situation. Anyone have any great excel workbooks that they have come up with for tracking this type of thing? can take a look at the list if you like... http://pixelbunker.com/inventory2006.htm thanks Brendan

hmm...just tried the royal hawaiian... tis ok. tastes like pineapple juice to me. actually measured out 5oz of pineapple so maybe with like 2-3 oz of pineapple. I think this would be better maybe as 2oz gin 1/2 oz orgeat 1/2 oz lemon 1 oz pineapple shaken and served up in a cocktail glass? or flute? but that was my last 2oz of gin so it will have to wait :-( B

thought i had seen this topic befor, but cant find it when i search. who has some other recipes to try using orgeat? thanks B

can yu make a pom molasses by just simmering pom for a while? or pom and sugar? hmm and what are the opinions on Pama? ive only just had a small taste once. thanks B

You might want to add some extra water. Bottled cocktail recipes often need water to make up for what you don't get from melting ice. ← "then shake and strain over fresh ice"

so...who else thought this whole thing was alittle rediculous, my dad(whos a 5 star chef) and i were sitting watching, and we couldnt stop saying how it was too rediculous. who can expect to take cafeteria chefs, fishmongers, stock brokers, and whoever else they had and expect to open a world class restaurant in 24 hours without ever teaching them anything. why not take professional sous chefs and culinary students, i think it would be just as entertaining without the "wow this is a bit stupid" factor. luckily the show still made me laugh and i loved when Ramsey actually seemed to breakdown from just angry to almost depressed and sad when they had gone almost 3 hours without servering entrees. does anyone think that any of these people will really be ready to run a multi-million dollar restaurant at the end of this? i also love the decor of the restaurant and the fire sign outside. the fire exit doors when chefs were kicked off were great too. B

hey everyone, i will be headed up to quebec city in the next two weeks, just looking for some good food and drink. On the college kid budget. doesnt have to be super cheap, but anything on the cheap eat/good value side would be great. thanks Brendan