claire797

Has anyone tried the new Smart Chicken? I've seen it at Central Market, but have hesitated to buy it because it's more expensive. Is it worth it?

Lane cake is an excellent idea! It's a white (sometimes yellow) cake layered with coconut, nuts and dried fruits then frosted with a fluffy icing. I have tasted it, but never made it. It's a gorgeous cake. I tried to stick a picture in, but it wouldn't accept the image. Here's a link. http://images.google.com/images?q=tbn:EePu...ipes/laneck.gif

I like Varmint's junk food idea. What about a spin on Pepsi and peanuts? For instance, a Coca-cola cake (made with Pepsi) garnished with peanut butter mousse of some sort? Or maybe you could do something with peanut patties? Ever had one of these things? They're kind of a Texas thing, but we're in the south, right? Recipe. You could make a batch of the red candy, break it up and use it as a garnish for vanilla ice cream (or whatever).

The last time I had bananas foster prepared tableside was back in 1983. Do restaurants still do flaming desserts or am I just missing out because I live in Austin? I've seen plenty of visual showmanship here, but why aren't people blowing stuff up and setting things on fire?

I have never experienced any pastry showmanship. And with as many desserts as I've ordered, that's a sad thing. Almost as pathetic as having to keep a Hershey Bar in the car in case my fellow diners are the sort who have "no room" left for something sweet. Looking forward to watching this thread. Maybe I can experience some pastry showmanship during my trip to Chicago. Sure haven't found any in Austin.

I've been to both Craft in NY and CraftSteak in Vegas before. Both are good restaurants, and I expect I'll have a great meal. I'm more worried about staying awake for a 10:30 show. That's 1:30 AM body-clock time. Bruce Eh. You'll be fine. Order yourself a strong coffee with dessert. None of this dessert-skipping business.

Has anyone read "Fresh Milk" by Fiona Giles? I thought I was open-minded when it came to breastfeeding, but some of the stories in this book are cringeworthy. Fresh Milk

Yep. Bruce will be difficult to make snide remarks about - he eats all this healthy stuff. Fruit, vegetables, no fast food or drunken benders or binges on cookies and junk food. What fun is that? Have something nasty at the airport tomorrow, okay? Just to make us all feel better? I was thinking the same thing, Tammy. However, the apple turnover and orange juice was commendable! Much more interesting than yesterday's cereal. Craftsteak should be good....

Thanks! All you need is to call me... you can email me at chef@suvir.com, and I can ensure that we can serve you a tasting of some of the dinner menu dishes. Let me know. Reservations are not necessary for lunch.. you can come anytime between 12 and 3 PM. I'll see you next year when I make my yearly pilgrimage to NYC. WTG Suvir!

Now if you ever feel like making granola, you'll know where to go!

Every day. Usually Frosted Mini Wheats and skim milk, sometimes Multi-Grain Chex. I do, but I now like vanilla flavored soy milk. Right now I'm eating it on Kashi Go Lean Crunch, but I'm about to break out the oatmeal. Also, www.breakfast.com may be up from grabs, but http://www.mrbreakfast.com is being put to mighty good use. I love that guy.

I totally agree. I can't speak for diabetics or Atkins people, but for people casually watching calories, a small piece of the real thing is much better than a big wedge of some rubbery, crappy dessert substitute.

Man, Elyse. You really hate seafood! Cool!

I think maybe different people are more sensitive to Splenda. I made a Splenda cheesecake and a few people raved about it while others agreed with me that the aftertaste was pretty strong. I've thrown away many a batch of baking experiments because the metallic, bitter finish just took away from the overall enjoyment. Meanwhile, other people rave about the stuff.

Hi! I don't know much about Angel Delight, but what we're using here in America is Jello Brand Instant pudding. Here's some info: Jello Pudding. Good luck with using Angel Delight. I have a feeling if you use 3.4 ounces -- the equivalent to one box of Jello Brand, you'll be fine :). BTW. Toliver, I completely agree with what you have to say about Martha's cookies. It's just a bad recipe. Period.

Amen! Those are the worst cookies ever. I rated a bunch of cookie recipes and the Alexis cookies were awful. http://www.ginsberg.com/anna/blogchart.htm

If your pan is hot enough, you shouldn't need to use the broiler. The heat from the pan should deliver the sear. All you need to do is stick it in the hot oven I guess you *could* use your broiler if you wanted to, but in my experience there's no need.

Do it!! Then write about it. :salivate: Don't forget the wine!

I use a method that sounds very much like Col Klinks. 1) Heat cast iron pan (Lodge, not Le Creuset) in the oven for about 15 minutes at 500 2) Throw steak on hot pan, season with whatever 3) Put cast iron and steak in oven for about 4-7 minutes depending on size of thickness of steak 4) Carefully turn steak and cook 4-7 minutes more This method has not failed me once with cast iron.

Please report back with the details ;).

None of my favorites are in New York. These are my top 3 in terms of food and atmosphere. Unfortunately, I've never been to Peter Luger's, so I can't say Gibson's (Chicago) Lawry's (Dallas, Las Vegas, elsewhere) Pappas Bros (Houston) Top 3 Casual steakhouses Chucks' (prime rib -- Connecticut) Houston's (prime rib -- all over the place) Salt Grass (prime rib -- Texas)

Fat Guy did a great job in stating exactly what I was thinking concerning this point. Bringing a jar of food was not wrong, getting mad and abusive if the restaurant did not want to heat it is. There is a big difference between a kosher restaurant and a vegetarian one in this matter. The first is doing it for religious purposes the second for...social, health, taste. Another good point is that there was no printed rule saying "DO NOT BRING ANY MEAT CONTAINING ITEMS (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO BABY FOOD) INTO THIS RESTAURANT". FM I still think she was wrong on both counts. She shouldn't have brought it in and she shouldn't have been abusive to the staff. Maybe the poor woman was having a bad day, but she still was wrong and there's still grounds for asking her to leave OR discard the chicken.

No righteous indignation here. However, I think had the owner observed a woman feeding her child chicken baby food in what is promoted as a meat-free environment, then it would not be unreasonable for the owner to ask the woman to discard the chicken baby food or leave. There are polite ways of doing this. Perhaps the owner could explain what "vegetarian" means in this particular environment and explain that other customers do not eat meat for religious reasons etc. The owner could go so far as to offer an alternative for the baby. Some tofu? Soymilk? Whatever. But the woman feeding her baby chicken in a vegetarian restaurant was wrong. Sure. Other vegetarian restaurants might have let her stay. But if you ask me, they'd me doing a disservice to some of their more staunch (and probably regular) vegetarian customers who prefer a meat free environment.

It's a very clear case of the woman being wrong. Parenting issues aside, she was wrong to take chicken into a vegetarian restaurant then ask that it be heated up in a vegetarian kitchen. Had it been my restaurant, I probably wouldn't have been quite so nice as the owners of Rendezvous, especially considering this woman's behavior. Would we be having this debate (not that it's much of a debate) if she'd done this in a Kosher restaurant? No.

They cook it, they serve it to me, they cleanup and do the dishes. Sometimes it's nice to let someone else do the work. The Ruth's I've been in haven't had the best atmosphere...sort of generic looking inside. You'd think they could have come up with a consistent interior design that said something about them...like the Bonaza steakhouse chain did. Ruth's got negative points from me for serving a great martini with a plastic bucaneer's sword stabbed through the olives. And I couldn't believe that the Ruth's in Las Vegas is in a strip mall. I do recommend Lawry's Prime Rib in Las Vegas. The interior is done in a wonderful art deco style, the prime rib can be cut with a fork (and is well seasoned...Lawry's, of course) and the wait staff is superb. You are waited on hand and foot. They practically cut your meat for you and spoon it into your mouth. I half expected them to burp me when the meal was over. I felt sorry for the waitresses, though, for being forced to wear "serving wench"-like uniforms. That was the one thing in the restaurant that wasn't as classy as everything else. If prime rib and steakhouse atmosphere are high on your priority list, Lawry's can't be beat. They have very comfortable chairs. That's another thing I like about upscale steakhouses. They generally have padded, comfortable chairs or banquettes and booths. So many restaurants these days stick you in horribly uncomfortable chairs......but that's another thread ;).