gfweb
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If you would like an idea of what "upscale" Mexican cuisine looks like, I recommend going to Chef Bayless's website. Go to his Topolobampo Restaurant and click on the menus.
One example of what I would call upscale Mexican cuisine is this dish from the Spring Dinner Menu:
"Langosta en Crema al Almendra: pan-roasted Maine lobster in velvety almond-thickened guero chile cream. Red quinoa and garlicky braised mustard greens. 38.00" I'd say that is a pretty good example of an "upscale" dish.
Looks delicious.
But you are, in a way, sort of making my point. To me this would be a Mexican Influenced dish, not classic Mexican cuisine.
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At the risk of inflaming the board, I have to agree that I cannot see 'Mexican cuisine' and 'fine dining' in the same sentence. Same goes for Greek. (Steingarten agrees)
I've eaten widely and well over the years and I've never had classic Greek or Mexican dishes that were not pretty crude.
Note that I say "classic"...meaning the traditional dishes of that country. While I have had Mexican-influenced meals that were in the fine dining category, the classic dishes miss widely. Perhaps I've eaten in the wrong restaurants.
Let me defang all those who'd introduce an element of racism etc into my thoughts. There is none. This is a matter of taste. I actually like mexican food a lot, the stuff is great...just not fine dining.
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given his weight and eating habits for years, I'd say he's dodged a bullet more than once.
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We checked out Salt last night. After the bad experience a while back I'm happy to say that things were what they should have been this time. A bit pricey, all things considered, but just fine.
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Am I the only one who thought there was an inordinate number of shots of Padma stuffing her face with messy food?
Ugh. HUGE bites and chewing with her mouth open. I had to look away
Me too. How gross. Reminds me of Robert Redford chewing with his smiling mouth open in various movies. Sexy to some, repulsive to those with a measure of couth.
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The seasoning issue is another matter. If I were a chef I'd probably be insulted, but then again, a lot of restaurants don't offer the courtesy of fresh ground pepper, or might not have red pepper flakes in their pantry because they don't use them in their cooking. I've worked with enough chefs to know that sometimes being under the hood in a commercial kitchen can lead to some level of oxygen deprivation and resultant mild brain damage. I'd be careful of cleaver wielding chefs that saw you seasoning your food with outside condiments/spices and implying that they weren't doing their jobs properly.
Do you ask for ketchup for your well done steak, perchance?
edited for harsh language and bad speling
I would comment that there are some cooks with no ability to season properly. Look at the various cooking competitions, Next Iron Chef/Top Chef etc. More than one of these hotshots has been ding-ed for improper seasoning. I don't carry my own spices and I'm not rude enough to scold a chef for badly seasoned food, but woe be to him if he has a problem with my correcting his mistakes.
Since when should it be assumed that the only competent palate is in a toque?
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[Moderator note: This is part of an extended topic that became too large for our servers to handle efficiently, so we've divided it into shorter segments; the preceding part of this discussion is here: Iron Chef America (Part 2)]
They should edit out CCora and put in somebody who has a clue.
Can she cook better than me? Sure, but I'm not getting paid a mint to be a food star. If I were, I'd do better than that southern/greek doo doo that she shovels up.
Her next IC gig is " Battle hot dog".
Lets see, ...weiner moussaka, pigs with feta in a phyllo wrap, hot dog tapenade, deep fried corn dogs, and for the piece d'resistance, a twin towers of forcemeat thrusting skyward from a braised kraut base. -
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Show's embarrassing. And I thought Paula Deen sucked!
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"That designer judge, what's his name, was a complete tool"
Tool is exactly the word for that guy.
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What I particularly thought was poignant was the fact that at the very end when Guy is in the TGIF test kitchen, the comment was made that they "deconstructed the winning dish". So I guess $25,000 is the going price for selling your soul to TFN?
You: Yay! I just won $25,000 for my winning dish!
TGIF: We're just gonna make a few changes. *Wink, wink*
Actually I find that encouraging. Some of the winning recipes so obviously sucked that I was concerned for TGIF...their cuisine might fall even lower.
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Cora won by 1 point, which didn't seem to reflect the judges comments. She had at least two big negative remarks.
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Uggh. Spectacularly terrible. Almost a spoof of a FN show. Summers must be the worst voice-over guy on TV with his bizarre and monotonous phrasing. And Fieri....
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Recent trip to St Thomas and St Johns...
Herve's- Just OK. Great location, decent winelist, food was tired and not well-prepared or presented.
Oceana-Very good meal in a nice outdoor place at night. I suspect that the neighborhood is a bit scruffy, so night-time dining hid all of the local defects.
Mongoose Junction on St Johns- Nice place good menu
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anybody here ever actually work for him in a kitchen?
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FN has taken his name off of the list of chef/host bios on their website. Hmmm.
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As a customer, I love Open Table and use it frequently when traveling. Unless there is a specific restaurant that I absolutely want to dine at, I will use OT to assess my options. If a restaurant is not on there I will not usually consider it unless, as I mentioned, the restaurant is really a specific reason for the trip. All else being equal though, I will always choose an OT restaurant over one that isn't.
That goes for me too. A favorite restaurant recently dropped OT. We dine there much less often now.
Who wants to get busy signals or be put on hold when OT is so easy?
That 3K sounds like a lot to me as well, but balanced against the cost of even one PT reservations person it is actually cheap and gives vastly better customer service. OT never gets the flu and calls in sick, OT is never cranky or has bad phone manners. OT doesn't put the phones on hold so they can catch a smoke or talk on their cell phone. OT is the kind of computerized service that actually makes it cheaper and more efficient to do business.
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Whether or not it is safe, double-dipping shows tremendous disregard for your companions' sensibilities. Knowing that some feel strongly against it, double-dippers are about as inconsiderate as it gets.
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Salmon is "medium fishy" to my taste. The dark bits are the fishiest tasting. I trim them.
My favorite salmon is poached in water which has had a mirepoix (shaved carrot, diced celery, chopped onion) cooked in it for 30 minutes along with a clove, bay leaf, & salt. Lay salmon fillets on the veg and simmer, covered, gently till done...about 5 to 10 min depending on thickness. There should be enough liquid to come up to near the top of the fish, but not cover the fish.
Poaching mavens may have better techniques, but this works well for me.
I serve over spinach with a lime vinaigrette and spiced pecans.
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Marinate diver scallops in 1:1 balsamic/light soy for 15 min.
Saute in butter.
Remove scallops when done and reduce pan juices with a splash of heavy cream, a 4 finger pinch of sugar, salt and pepper till the sauce coats a spoon.
Eat.
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I really don't know what it should be. I only know what I've been served as mofongo.
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I've had mofongo that was wonderful, but most has been a greasy little pile of fried cubed plantain that is just yucky. Anybody know the secret?
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I just did that too, but without the nutmeg and with a bit of mustard and grated cheddar on top.
Best restaurant in Fernandina Beach?
in Florida: Dining
Posted
You might want to check out JDs Chophouse, a newish place on A1A near Yulee. It is in a strip of shops and doesnt look like much from the outside. We had lunch there, which was great. The dinner menu looked equally good.
On the other hand, a new place "Thyme", just onto the island, on A1A needs work. The decor is very bizarre, with lime green and red crystal chandeliers that belong in a bordello. Menu is Italianish and not cheap, but the food wasn't executed well, e.g. veal saltimboca had burned prosciutto on it and was in a brown sauce that tasted neither of wine nor sage. Service was great though.