jciel

Stone, I am saddened, deeply, by your critique of the Bell Tower burger. I would be the person that recommended same, and they generally do great service to their burgers. I know that they have had some changes in the kitchen of late,but their primary staff have been there for years. That the burger was small was even more disheartening, as it used to be 1/2 lb or more depending on the prep person. I feel personally responsible for your burger being less than you had hoped, and will have to now recommend you go to Burger Shack for beer and burger. Cheap, good, and a great view.

In response to rhubarbz and JAZ, why do chef's smoke, the answer is simple.When one is a lowly line cook, the only breaks allowed are for smokes. If one does not wish to be the shmuck catching tags while everyone else has a break, then you smoke. I didn't smoke until I started working in restaurants, I actually raced bicycles and would have never smoked, but turning around to find myself alone on the line was enough. Have a cigar and a chat. Does this affect my perception of salt?, somewhat, but not enough that yrs of toil don't compensate. Would I play with my nose to affect my perception of taste? well I do have a nose kazoo!

KarenS was onto something, but failed to mention the most obvious of reasons for serving room temperature bread. Economics. Bread, while inexpensive, is nevertheless money. If I serve warm bread, you, as the patron will eat to your hearts content, and find yourself unable to eat that Osso Bucco I spent all day preparing, and instead may opt for the micro-green salad. Cold bread lingers in the stomach, giving the illusion that one has eaten more than one has;consequently, I sell you on the soup, salad, entree, and dessert. Oh yea, and a double Drambuie to boot. Seriously, it is all about what patrons will order, and from my experience, room temperature bread translates into sales; warm bread translates into parking violations. Just my $0.02 and I really,really like warm bread at home!

I ate at Roxanne's for the first time as a very belated birthday dinner. I will have to say that I have not had a better meal anywhere in the Bay area(FL included) I was wholly unprepared for the level of flavor attained, and more than pleasantly surprised by the presentation. Whatever your personal opinion of Veganism, and mine is none too generous, this restaurant has everything going for it! I would(will) gladly accept a dinner invitation here above virtually any other restaurant within the Bay. My lovely wife, a reformed vegetarian, stated simply that Roxanne's made Green's seem like an Applebee's. 'Nuff said.

Oddly enough, I have been researching this thread for a new French restaurant. They are open, but have no French Beer in stock. Tres Mal! Try this site www.frenchbeer.info They have a map, and info on all the French micro-brews as well as the larger breweries. Hope this helps, and drink well!

There is no question that Sierra Nevada is the better of the two in my estimation. Although one cannot truly compare them stylistically, the hoppiness of Sierra makes it a fave on a hot California day. Then there is the mother of all cervesas, The Black Butte Porter! Mothers milk in the bottle. Like nothing else I've tasted, but alas, not readily available to most on the opposite coast. Buy Sierra, you won't go wrong.

Many moons ago, I was privelged enough to live in both of these fine cities. At that time, I would have given NY the hands down championship of urban living, and London the urbane championship. There are many redeeming qualities to life in both, but I always believed that London felt, and to this day, feels like home. I think the differences in vibe are attributable to 9/11 when NY lost its feeling of invinceability. London has always had some underlying theme of terrorism whether from the IRA or some other of the Euro/ME fringe groups. In London, at least in my tenure, this was a given fact of everyday life, and one was not slowed in the least by its presence. NY has yet to come to terms with its new status as target, whereas London has dismissed same. My strangest day in London was when my neighbor was arrested for bomb making activities related to the IRA. Oddly, none of the other neighbors seemed much surprised, nor very much concerned, and this was in Knightsbridge! I must concur with the previous mention that these are really the only two cities that matter, otherwise this thread would not have produced the volumes of entertaining dialogue.

First, let me say that I live in the valley. Secondly, let me thank Robert for that excellent review of FL. I get to dine there several times a year and can honestly say that I have never had the best of experiences. In fact, I am now so disenchanted by both of TK's properties that I will try deflect invitations to either in favor of other, more local, venues. There are, to be fair, some dishes that border on the sublime, but most are well conceived, but poorly executed. There are other flaws, service has certainly slipped since TK's brother left for his own ventures, and the rate at which staff will turnover, is even by most restaurant standards high. FL is now, and has been for several years, a resume builder. FL's retrenching started several years ago when all the staff were placed on salary, and service and kitchen staff left in droves. While the bottom line improved, and allowed for expansion, there was no commensurate improvement in the quality of the product. Some of this may be attributed to lack of oversight, but I feel that the quality of the staffing declined so considerably that they will be recovering for some time. Thanks for letting me rant, FL and Bouchon have been my pet peeves for some time.

I just completed a Mexican dinner for some of our international clients, and of all things, they wanted enchiladas. One of my staff is an older hispanic woman who then taught me to make the stacked enchiladas like her grandmother did. Essential ingredients were chicken stock, dried Guajillo chiles and Cojito cheese. After that, everything is mechanics. We softened the chiles in warm chicken stock, strained, pureed the chiles, added back some stock to thin, and we had the sauce, no tomatoes, nothing else. Fiery as hell, but unbelievably simple. To the Cojito, which she grates, she adds, onion, garlic,salt, pepper, and radish. Dip the tortillas as previously explained, fill, roll, stack, and cover with sauce and cojito. Bake to soften the cheese and its done. If only I'd known this before...

As an American traditionalist, I must concur with Bouland on the term confit.Everywhere is the term much used for preparations that are not. Why not call a marmalade, marmalade? Would a rose...? However, into this foray I will throw my fave Diver scallops confited in Bacon fat; simple and oh so succulent. This requires more time than one might expect, but low heat and time do a phenomenal job.

Try the Bell Tower, Jackson & Polk, great burger, even better drinks

Regarding the IUD, looks more like a piece of a spring, but I have no idea why one would want that in a kit. My Kit: 12" & 8" Chef's knives 12" Grantin edge slicer 12" Sashimi slicer 10" Serrated 8" curved boning knife 6" flexible utility 4" deba 4" paring 2 zesters fish spatula melon baller sommelier diamond steel ceramic steel Japanese mandolin and spare blades silpat needle nose pliers

I, for one, can tell you that regardless of age, fully half of your husband's class will no longer be in the industry within two years. Having said that, I did not begin a "serious" career in food until my mid-thirties, I had worked in restaurants from an early age and had done so intermittently throughout my twenties. If my experience holds, then few younger chefs have had the opportunity to develop their palates. I think that one's palate cannot fully appreciate or articulate flavors until one is at least 30, when one has had the breadth of experience necessary to understand the integrity of the product. If youthful exuberence was all that was necessary to withstand the rigors of the kitchen then many more of the truly great chefs would not still be in the kitchen on a daily basis. Efficiency,stamina and equanimity are much more desirable traits than speed and egoist histrionics. I love restaurant kitchens and would not want to be anywhere else at any age! When I go out, I want to be on the line with that last nibble of foie gras still stuck in my mouth. Just my $0.10

Hello as this is my first post to the site, I will keep this brief. I seem to recall a swedish(scandinavian in general?) variant of a starter that utilised milk. I could be wrong but have any of you tried this? I tend toward the grape style to attract yeast myself, but would love to try the milk starter. BTW La Brea (think tar pits) is in LA not Berkeley