Nargi

I wasn't impressed. I went here for my last birthday and on many people's recommendation, I ordered the sashimi dinner/platter, an assortment of sashimi, along with soup, tempura, etc. There was cooked tuna on the plate. Cooked to the point of being like cat food. Other things just weren't seasoned properly. To finish the meal, I ordered hamachi sashimi. It was cut so thick I had to slice it in half just to eat it. Now, I love sushi. I love it. But I don't like chewing big chunks of raw fish for several minutes just to get it down. Maybe I went on an off night, but I've had much better sushi in other places in LA, Orange County and San Diego.

In reference to most restaurants, the difference between "mashed" and "smashed" is the degree of uh... mash-ed-ness. Mashed potatoes are often more pureed and have more liquid added (sort of a thick, chunky puree). Whereas "Smashed" potatoes are just lightly broken down and there a lot less, if any, liquid added.

Awesome. I'm glad everyone's responding and giving real information. I really appreciate it. I was sort of wary when I posted this, it would be perceived negatively, but it hasn't received that sort of response at all, so thank to everyone contributing. That said, if anyone's ever in San Diego and wants a good meal, let me know. French Laundry it is not, but you won't be disappointed.

What pre-made sauce do you find that you actually like to use? I tend to find issues with most of them (I'd say most of the time, it's the fact they have sugar or HFCS in them).

So, a lot of us are familiar with places like StudioKitchen in Philly, SubCulture Dining in San Francisco and ZKitchen (is that place still around?) in North Carolina (I think), but is there anywhere like this in San Diego? Or maybe close to San Diego, like lower Orange County or Temecula? I haven't heard of any, and I think this might be because not a lot of people consider SD to be much of a food-centric place, but I'd definitely like to see if there's anything around like this, OR... if anyone would be interested in setting something up. I've wanted to try something in this vein for a while, but I haven't found too many people who are willing to pay $75-100 for a meal. Any help in either part of this would be greatly appreciated.

yeah, that makes sense. sort of forgoing some other nicer things in life in order to save up for the food-related ones.

Let me preface this by saying that, yes, some of this question comes out of some amount of jealousy, but it's more rooted in curiosity and wondering of how certain things are able to occur. That said: I'm 25, I'm a chef (yes, a chef, not a cook, not a student, an actual chef), I live in San Diego. Now granted, I'm not Thomas Keller, I don't make a ton of money, and I often subsidize my income by teaching classes and doing catering events here and there. I often try to eat out as much as I can, both to learn about food culture and to further my education in my career. I have the same expenses as most people. I have rent, a car payment, insurance, bills, groceries, etc. And aside from buying books (of which I have quite a few), I really don't spend money on anything other than those necessities. Yet, when it comes to eating out, I find I can afford to eat at "nice" restaurants maybe twice a month. Here's my actual question: How is it that it seems that everything other than me on eGullet can take yearly (if not quarterly or monthly) trips to culinary hotspots around the globe? How is it that a far larger number than I would've imagined are "regulars" at places like Per Se and The Fat Duck? How is it that people can afford to "test" cooking wagyu beef and foie gras in their kitchen with PacoJets and immersion circulators? A lot of people seem to be younger than me. In that regard, I can only assume either they've received a large inheritance or their parents subsidize their culinary adventures. On the flip side, are most of you in extremely high-paying careers? Are you doctors or lawyers or investment bankers? I'm really curious to know. There are people here who claim not to be professionals in the food world yet know more than me about many subjects. I study day and night while working IN this field and feel like I learn tons of things every day. Yet in that same regard, people can seem to know all this and still work in other field. I'm assuming that any of you are quite as few year older than I am, but still, I'm astounded. Someone help a brother out.

Just hearing this makes me die a little inside. I live in California, so obviously Per Se wouldn't be on my list of "regular" restaurants, but I have a dream to be able to one day be able to eat at the French Laundry. sigh. Maybe being a chef wasn't the route I should've gone. I should become an investment banker or something.

I think you're over-thinking this. I agree, everyone wants something special and, as a few people here have stated, a "wow" sauce, but I don't think it needs to be so technical or intricate. I can't speak for anyone but myself, but I was really looking for something simple that I could just "throw together", so to speak. It wasn't that I was asking anyone to invent something magical or work day and night to perfect tomato sauce. I suppose it was more of just me simply asking "Does anyone make a tomato sauce with pantry staples alone?", which granted, you answered the question well enough (I actually has some sauce I already made and just added butter to it and it was awesome), but I think the simplistic nature of my question has snowballed into something a little overly complicated. Incidentally, in response to a previous post, I'm a chef (as in, I went to school, worked my way up the line and now run a kitchen) and I still subscribe to the "everything is better with a million cloves of garlic" camp. Garlic is nature's candy.

I agree for the most part. I was kind of looking for ideas from all over. I will admit, though, that even being Italian (well, Sicilian), I never really thought about butter in a tomato sauce and it is definitely fantastic (I added some butter to my go-to sauce that was already made, and paired with some fresh pasta, it was definitely new and delicious.

There can never be too much garlic, sir. ::bites into a head of garlic, Iron Chef Chairman-style::

I do that quite a bit, but I'm a big fat Italian guy, so I go through it pretty quickly and was basically looking for something make when I didn't have a lot of food in the house (or money to buy food).

hmm, well, in all honesty, nothing like this has ever crossed my mind, but everyone seems to be in agreement that it's good stuff, so methinks i'll have to try it soon. thanks for the quick reply.

Tomato Sauce, Red Sauce, Pasta Sauce, Marinara, Gravy (if you're super Sicilian), whatever you want to call it, I often find myself with nothing but canned tomato sauce (sometimes the odd can of whole/diced tomatoes or paste) and dried herbs. I can make some really stellar sauces with fresh ingredients (My marinara has like 5 ingredients and it's ridiculously good), but I'm trying to figure out an acceptable alternative when I'm broke and/or lazy. I'm looking for variations with dried herbs and spices, possibly even up to the point of nothing fresh. And before I get the onslaught of "that's culinary blasphemy!" and the like, please note that I am an actual working chef and I do know the difference between "pasta sauce" and marinara" etc., but in general I really only use dried herbs (oregano, specifically) when making pizza sauce and I just want to find something I can make and stash in the fridge or freezer to have on hand when I get hungry and either don't want to spend a lot of time preparing anything or just don't have the ingredients in the house. Just for the record, I tend to stick to a pretty much tomato, onion and garlic (generally just seasoned with salt, pepper and fresh basil) based sauce, but I welcome the addition of mire poix and carrots and sugar and all that jazz. Not looking for a culinary masterpiece here. Not looking for anything "authentic". Just something good. Thanks in advance. Edit: On a side note, I make a pretty common sauce in terms of consistency and flavor profiles, but when I was young, my grandfather and father (both Sicilian), made a very thin sauce, probably just with tomato sauce (no whole/diced/puree, etc.) and the only other ingredient I remember is bay leaf, for some reason. I've tried looking for something similar but to no avail. Any help in this area would be appreciated as well. Thanks.

i mean this in the nicest way possible, but have you ever worked in a kitchen before? people always assume cussing and the like is some horrible, off thing, but kitchens are rarely, if ever, quiet places of meditation. generally only the extremely high end, 3 michelin-starred restaurants are zen-like and most people tend to work there for the sake of a high point on their resume. i work with someone who worked at french laundry and bouchon and after 2 years he was asked to be the sous chef and he quit because he was tired of never having fun at work and having his food thrown against the wall. just a thought. we blast music at my work and drop the f bomb like it's going out of style and we're one of the (if not the) busiest places in san diego. it's all about personal preference, i suppose.

ah, yeah, valerie kept calling them "bellinis," even at the end when colicchio corrected them. just bad. bye, valerie (just watching it now, tivoed so no idea who gets sent home) ← on tv, people always say "bellini" and "mar-sca-pone" and they said "parpadelle" once... there's others i'm sure. maybe it's a regional thing, but blini is blini, mascarpone comes from mascarpa in italy and pappardelle is just that. at least in my experience. ::shrug::

Alright, well it seems this thread has somewhat died, but hopefully I can revive it. So, I'm going to be in SLC April 18-20 for an ACF-sponsored national food knowledge competition (I had to throw that in there and make sure everyone knows how special I am. ). Anyway, Although during the morning/day I'll probably be busy competing, I know I'll definitely have time at night to check out some of the culinary offerings. When I first heard I was competing in Utah, I wasn't all that excited about the prospect (the last competition was in Vegas), but this thread has given me new hope. Any updates? New restaurants? I still see a lot of the aforementioned restaurants still on current restaurant lists online (metropolitan, takashi, new yorker).

Nice. All of those things are totally valid and useful. Thanks for all the information; now I get to impress some Japanophiles I know.

So I've asked around, looked things up, racked my brain to no avail. I have a number of different salts in my culinary repertoire, and something I've discovered is that the majority of salts (sea salts, generally) from Japan that I see are in sold in a bag and have the consistency of wet sand. Anyone know why this is? Why not just remove the moisture? Is there any distinct advantage over dry salts? note: some sel de gris is the same way.

do you have wal-mart in the UK? i'm not sure how far their evil extends.

note: this is not going to be my most eloquent post ever. if you feel the need to save the "good stuff" for yourself or people who you seem to feel can appreciate food more, then you, good sir, are a douchebag. by not allowing people with less developed palates to eat these things, you are doing nothing but continuing their "culinary ignorance", if you will. i am one of those people who grew up with parents who worked, who made me fish sticks and hot dogs every day of my childhood (and yes, i am white. very white. if it matters), and yet, someone, magically, i am an adult who enjoys a wide range of foods and flavors. and i'm a cook professionally. imagine that. i cook the same food for everyone (except small children, and not because of the palate issue. some children have excellent palates, it's actually more of a cost issue. i can't justify giving a $40 or $50 plate to a 3 year old). i try to educate my friends who aren't necessarily food saavy and you know what happens? they then go out and try new things and try to expand their horizons. if you won't give them the same things you eat, then they aren't your friends to begin with and you shouldn't be cooking for them. the end.

16 degrees. I'm anal about my Shuns. I have some $3 Vietnamese market knives that work fine and I use a camping/hunting sharpener on and they are fine, but when it comes to a freakin $300 chef's knife, I'm a little picky. Factory edge is 16 degrees.

i have all of these episodes at my disposal. ya know, if anyone wants a DVD or something Or if you live in San Diego, we can have a marathon. p.s. To Mr. Anthony Bourdain and any and all members of The Discovery Channel, Travel Channel, Food Network, their parent companies or subsidiairies.. concerning these episodes: I, uh, found them.

that's because Lancaster sucks and that's why I live in San Diego now. I used to live on Beech. aka Crack Town. I feel like I'm going to get hepatitis anytime I go back to visit for holidays. In Lancaster, Olive Garden and Red Lobster at the mall are considered "fine dining" I don't even remember where the old location was. By Movies 12 or something?

I'm sure this will signify me as a complete freak, but when I was a little kid, I used to eat Chee-tos balls with white vinegar. I don't know why, but I loved it... and I hid it from everyone. Maybe I was subconsciously aware of the oddity of it all.