Batard

http://www.omecaterers.com/

Thanks Pan, I guess it has been a while. I'll update my post accordingly.

These are from my own notes: Sun Hop Shing Tea House Known for serving delicious jasmine tea (bypass the option of Lipton tea), this smaller dim sum house features carts without the chaos of some of the larger halls. Although the selection is smaller, the service tends to be better, which brings a lot of customers back. * Address: 21 Mott St * Phone: 212-267-2729 Dim Sum Go Go 5 E Broadway (Cross Street: Chatham Square) New York, NY 10038 (212) 732-0796 If you order the right things here, this place can be a knockout. The service can be terrible, but you can say that about a lot of places in Chinatown. On the plus side, you can get Dim Sum made to order any time of day. Some recommendations: Shark fin dumplings Jícama-and-lotus-root dumplings Fresh-corn-crunchy white sea fungus Shrimp dumplings Duck dumplings! Bamboo heart Abbot's delight Snow pea Leaf Peashoot dumplings Parsley dumplings filled with jícama Miscellaneous: Try the turnip cakes at the little kiosk on east side of Mott St. just south of Bayard, if it's still there. Good egg custards at either bakery on west side of Mott street just south of Canal.

I shop at the market Riverside Market quite often, and it amazes me that nothing is happening at that alleged wine shop. I mean, who is paying the rent on that empty space? There is actually one good very wine store in Lyndhurst ("good" being relative to the rest of Lyndhurst). It is probably no coincidence that it is a stone's throw from the Rutherford border. http://www.winepronline.com/

I don't think the servers themselves should be cleaning the tables. I notice in some restaurants they have different set of people cleaning the tables, who never touch the food on the way out of the kitchen. Servers should bring the food out from the kitchen; there should be busboys or whatever you call them to bring the dishes back to the kitchen.

Not a bad idea but hacksaw blades have a painted finish and this would chip off when you used it thus contaminating the meat. ← Any food grade hacksaw blade is not painted, so you won't produce paint chips when you use them. Also, there is little difference between a "hacksaw" and a "bone saw", other than the length of the saw frame, the semantics, and of course the price.

I bought a lifetime warranty hacksaw frame and a blade suitable for bone for what amounts to less than 7.5GBP (about $15.00USD). Of course, the frame is a few inches shorter than a "real" butcher saw, but pn the plus side the blades are very inexpensive to replace. Good article here, as it explains about teeth size, where to buy blades, etc.: http://www.motherearthnews.com/Do-It-Yours...ow-to-Hone.aspx

I've had different experiences with M&R meats. Unless you special order, you are likely to get frozen meat (which is what I got when I went in for shanks for Osso Bucco). I also got my corned beef from here for St Paddy's Day, and it was not as good as other years. Is it new owner? I don't think they have aged beef, but Kochers in Ridgefield Park is probably THE go-to place for prime beef in NNJ. It is fairly priced as well, and the butchers are world class. You can read the thread here: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=91554 I might be wrong, but $15-20 / lb for prime aged beef sounds very inexpensive ... last time I bought it was in Whole Foods in Alexandria VA and it was over $30.00 a pound.

Curlz, this site has the address at least: http://www.saltgastropub.com/ If you go to the "Progress" page, they have some photos of the work in progress and a clock counting down the minutes until they open (looks like next week).

In an article posted on April 11th 2008, it was reported that the Kesar Mango growing season was very cold this year and that much of the fruit was stunted and damaged. Very few if any are going to be exported. I don't know if this same situation applies alphonso mangos. Just to check, I did call one of the Subzi Mundi's that abound on Newark Avenue in Jersey City, NJ, where I go to do my Indian food shopping. They don't have any in yet and say they aren't sure if they will be getting any. http://english.ntdtv.com/?c=151&a=2675

Ask and you shall receive: Unicorn Minimill. Unicorn makes the best pepper mills I've ever used. I actually don't have a minimill but have several of the others and I'm sure the minimill is equally as good! ← That's Brilliant! Thanks, I'm off to buy one now. The fact that I can bring it camping as well as sneak it into restaurants makes it a "must have" item.

Why can't they just put a small pepper mill on the table? How do I know how fresh the pepper in the mill is, and how do the servers know where I want the pepper on the plate? Don't they know that I'm the only one who can season the dish to my own taste? And doesn't this whole ritual bother the chef? If he's "worth his salt", he tasted the dish before it left the kitchen. Last thing I would want is some FOH guy messing up the dish with too much pepper. I think there is a market for a "stealth mill", a small pepper mill that fits in your pocket and that you can use surreptitiously at your table.

List of Official State beverages: http://www.netstate.com/states/tables/state_beverages.htm Seems like "milk" is the cocktail of choice. It is so wholesome and politically correct.

While I do think Rutts Hutt has great dogs, I admit that I cannot separate the taste from the nostalgia. When I was really young, about 40 years ago, my dad used to take me to lunch here once a week, and those were great memories.

I live two blocks from Bubba's, and we have lunch their every week or so. I did participate in John's thread though. I was there today, and Bubba's wife was telling that this summer they are planning to get Boylan's root beer on tap and offer up root beer floats. Like Curlz, I am not going to offer my opinion up front, but I am dying to know how many grease stains Holly hands out.

Wow nice prices. I have been wanting to buy one of these instead of a La Ceuset, and Staub never seems to go on sale at Amazon. Thanks! Looks like the 8-quart will be a new addition to my kitchen. $9.95 shipping isn't too bad.

Sure, I'll pay for the shipping, send it to me. Do you have any how much money a "collector" will pay for an old Wagner or Griswold on EBay? I cannot get over how many people "collect" these things, and never use them for cooking, but for decoration. It totally pisses me off ...

Just walk down Mott Street in Chinatown and check out all the fish markets. You will find plenty of dried and fresh varieties.

Foodie is actually a real word with a history to it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foodie "foodies differ from gourmets in that gourmets are epicures of refined taste who may or may not be professionals in the food industry, whereas foodies are amateurs who simply love food for consumption, study, preparation, and news." Seems like a useful distinction to me. "Foodie" is a word that is in common culture, and it is meaningful to to people who do;t care about food. The word "chowhound" simply refers to a website. It's not really a "word". I prefer to refer to myself as a "food enthusiast. "

Try using a hollow blade knife like a Santoku. The alternating hollows on blade's sides prevent food from clinging if you are slicing correctly. It takes lots of practice, that's why they call them knife "skills". The more perfect you want your slices, the slower you need to slice. You will get fast in time. Make sure the knife is ~sharp~. I'm a not pro chef, but I know how to hold a blade, and I never have problems with sticking. You should learn to grip the knife correctly -- use a "pinch grip" for most knife chores like this. Remember, slicing is a special technique, unlike chopping . Maybe this will help: http://www.cutlery.com/tech.shtml Different types of knives use different techniques. This will show you how to use a chef's knife: http://www.cheftalk.com/content/display.cfm?articleid=119

I love the label: does it come pre-stuffed like in the picture? http://stuff4restaurants.com/blog2/wp-cont...ned-chicken.jpg Mmmmm, mmmmm, it's full of "Home Style Goodness" (gag!). This is what my grandfather called "trench food": fit only to eat during times of war or extreme duress.

The place is really called Annabella's Salumeria E Groceria Italiana, but the locals just call it Annabella's, and it is the best kept secret in the area. They make the finest mozzarella I ever had; at first I thought it was buffalo mozzarella because it had so much depth, but it also tasted too fresh to be imported. Turns out the owner, Billy, makes his own. And he knows what he is doing. Annabella's is in an out-of-the way place, on 246 Hackensack St, East Rutherford, NJ, right next to the Park and Orchard. They make fantastic and very creative hot and cold sandwiches and the menu has a lot of imagination. The entrees are also outstanding. All the salads, marinated items, and little appetizer items like rice balls are made in house. It's mostly take out, though they do have one nice table that could seat 6. The best thing about this place is Billy, the owner/cook. You can tell he really loves food and puts his heart into everything he makes, and that's what separates him from the other million Italian places in the area. Really fresh ingredients help too. I went in tonight and asked him to make me something -- whatever he felt like. I ended up with a beautiful Piadina, made with Calabrese sopressatta, artichoke hearts, and a little shaved Romano. Simple and delicious, and as Billy pointed out to me, a sandwich that has a 2,000 year old history. If you walk in and order a wrap he will make it for you, but he would really rather make you a Piadina. He understands that sometimes "less is more" when cooking Italian, and how to build combinations that really add up. Now it looks like his business is a little slow, and I hope word gets out about this place and people give it a try. He doesn't advertise. As you all know, there is nothing more disappointing than when a little neighborhood place you just love goes out of business, and all that's left are the million other cruddy Italian places.

I'd add a pair of 9 or 10 inch stainless Cooking Tongs to the list. For me that's an essential.

I make a lot of gumbo and never used file' powder. The only time I saw it in the store -- extremely hard to find around here -- it came in a huge jar which I would never have used up. This thread verifies that. For gumbo, I just use Okra. Most gumbo recipes only call for file' it if you are not using Okra, and I like the texture okra gives to gumbo.

I make about 3 gallons of chicken stock a week. I use about 12-14 pounds of chicken per batch, and about 2 pounds of that are chicken feet, which are cheap, clean and easy to find in my neighborhood. The remainder is usually chicken leg quarters or whatever else is on sale. The broth always comes out with a beautiful gel. I guess you could get the same results with gelatin, but I like to get that gelatinous result that natural way. To me it seems almost like "cheating." My wife makes a type of aspic out of trotters. She cooks them down and clarifies the broth. She pours half off into a bread pan and chills until it is set solid. Then she will put a vegetable or meat "filling" on the top, and pours on the remaining pork broth and chills until set. I don't know if this is a specifically Chinese recipe, but she learned it from her Dad back in China. It's terrific in the summer. I call it "pig jelly", which gets her mad, but it is really good stuff.