Mambwe

Is LOS doable for a single diner? I will be in vegas for a meeting and one night will be alone. Is there an area or bar where I can dine alone?

I'm always amazed when I see people drown their sushi/sashimi with a pile of wasabi. How can they taste the fish? It makes me wonder if people actually enjoy the delicate taste of the fish or just that they think eating sushi is trendy. It wouldn't surprise me if one reason sushi restaurants are so crowded is that, especially in the metro NY area, sushi is the "trendy" thing to eat. I see and know many people who still won't go beyond ordering california rolls and salmon or tuna sushi. There is so much more to explore, yet some people still can't get past the basic types. Of course there are plenty of people who are serious about their sushi, especially on eGullet, but I still wonder about people who LOVE sushi and only eat varieties that are most common to American culture. I have always read/heard that the "proper" way to eat sushi is using your fingers and slightly dipping in soy sauce protein down. Sashimi is always eaten with chopsticks and a little wasabi, if preferred, and a little dip in soy sauce. The books, articles, and posts I have read seem to suggest that this is the "correct" way. I have one question for all of you. We're all talking about the pile of wasabi that accompany our plates. What about the pile of ginger? I never touch the ginger. When I first started eating sushi I always added my wasabi and then a slice of ginger on top. After I learned that this was bad practice I stopped. I realized it was to cleanse your palate between courses and not used as a condiment. Do you use the ginger? If so, between every piece or only if it is a different protein component?

Well...I stopped by Mitsuwa today and I must say it is pretty neat. They have the largest selection and variety of Sake I have seen. I was able to pick up the sake I was looking for and also tried another one. They have a large selection of both hot and cold sake. What really amazed me was how clean this place was. Both the Market and food court area looked immaculate. If i hadn't read about people going there 7 years ago I would have thought it was new. Its nice to see this when shopping for food. Back to the food... Now, they also have a lot of noodles, fish, meat, sauces, veggies and soy sauces, but I have been to many markets in queens with a similar selection. This is definitely the biggest selection of everything under one roof. I don't live in Manhattan so shopping there would be a bit of a chore for me. I am also not familiar with the shops in Manhattan so I can;t really compare. The food court is an added bonus. I had Ramen soup and it was quite tasty. It was ramen miso soup with pork. I am no ramen expert, but this was really good. Overall, this is a great market that I will return to whenever in the area.

I am wondering if there is anything that says what foods are in season when. I know this time of year is pumpkin and squash, but how about in Jan/Feb? I think I know the obvious ones like leafy greens and tomatoes. Is there a site or something I can look at that will give me this info?

Wow!! Thanks for the replies. feedmec00kies...Thanks for finding it. I've been looking for a while for it with no luck. I post on Egullet and someone finds it within 30 minutes. Has anyone been to Mitsuwa?? I've never heard of it before. The one perk of my job is that I drive around and can go to many places. Coincidentally I will be in NJ tomorrow so I will try and stop by.

I'm looking for a wine shop with a nice variety of Sake. Anywhere in NYC or Long Island is fine. I'm looking for a specific Sake called Meisousui, but I am also interested in looking at other types.

I went with GrannySmith apples. We'll see how it comes out. This is my first try at an apple crumble pie.

I'm going to be baking an apple crumb cake and this will be my first shot at baking. The recipe calls for tart apples. What apples are tart and good for baking? I have seen many apple pies cut open and there are 2 inches of liquid in the pie. What apples are tart and also won't give me a liquidy mess?

I just found out I am spending the night in Lexington, VA. Can you guys recommend a place to eat? Preferably American or something similar.

Well, I just got back from a business trip in Nashville and what was waiting for me when I got home? My new Boardsmith butcher block. I got the 16 x 22 Walnut butcher block and this thing is absolutely beautiful. Unless you already have one of his boards you can't imagine how amazing this board looks. I got the walnut because I loved the dark color of the wood and I saw pictures of Octavemans board and loved it. I haven't had a chance to use it but I will tomorrow. I still need to get some oil to properly season the board. I really am amazed at how nice the board came out. Dave is really a stand up guy and I would advise everyone who is in the market for a cutting board or butcher block to buy a board from dave. I waited about 4 weeks for my board from the day I ordered it to the day I received it. I will try to post some pictures tomorrow.

Octaveman - Where did you find this magical liquid that turns walnut into a baby's butt? Dave?

I decided to go with a Blazen Gyuto 240mm and a Hirimoto AS Petty 150mm to start off. I will be getting more knives in the near future. I just got my confirmation email from JCK and they said my payment will take 4 days to clear. I had money in my Paypal account from selling a few yankees tickets so I paid through paypal. I guess if I used a credit card processing time would be faster. Now I have to wait longer for my knives.

I also ordered a Boardsmith 16 x 22 Walnut Butcher Block. I wont have it for a few weeks since he has to source enough walnut for the board. I love the dark color of the walnut. How do you like the feet on the Burcher Block? I was wondering if I should add the feet on the board. I figure without the feet I can atleast use both sides of the board. What do you guys think? Octaveman...How do you like your board? I love the look of your board.

I live in Plainview, which is pretty much the center of the island. I drive around all day for work so location is not much of an issue. I see them all the time in Brooklyn I have just never stopped in.

Anyone know any good Restaurant Supply places on Long Island, NY? I'm gonna try resurant depot tomorrow. I know of a lot of other places, i was just curious if anyone had any recommendations.

Thanks for all of the replies!! I'm definitely going to stop by my supply store. I didn't even think about plates and linens. For now, I am going fill in the holes from the supply store. I don't care how pretty they look. I just want functionability. Luckily, I live on Long Island so we have a bunch of supply placed nearby. The set I bought seems to have all the necessary items. 2 fry pan (12" & 14") 1 casserole pot 1 sauce pan 1 covered pan 1 small stock pot Of course, the covers count as a piece.

I'm not really concerned with how appealing they look. I actually like the look of the restaurant quality pots. Maybe its because I'm a guy, but I think it looks tougher and screams "hey, this guy can cook!" It is probably just me that thinks that way. I guess I am strange. As long as they are suitable for cooking and perform as good as the expensive sets than that is fine with me. I just want something that will cook well.

I just got engaged and we are in the process of buying kitchen supplies. We bought a 10 piece All Clad SS set that was $630. I have no problem buying a good set of pots & pans and spending the money. It's the price of the add-ons that are driving me nuts. A 3 qt. sauce pan is $200! How do you find the quality of Restaurant Supply pots & pans and how would they compare to the All Clad? I'm getting the All Clad set, I was thinking of filling in with with items from a supply shop. I'm gonna need another pan, stock pot, and some other things. How is the quality and is there anything I should look out for when buying from a restaurant supply house? Do you buy from restaurant supply store?

The knife comes with the Ho wood handle and for an extra $40 it comes with the buffalo horn hilt. What is a Hilt? Does this mean the entire handle is buffalo horn or just a ring where the handle meets the blade(like the picture you added)? From the site: Custom handles and sheaths:The octagonal handle with water buffalo horn hilt adds about $40.00

They no long offer a black octagon handle. They do have a buffalo horn hilt handle that they say is 99.9% black. I am viewing their website and this one, on my blackberry so it is possible that I have missed something. They look like great knives though. This is from their website: Attention We use water buffalo horns for the hilt of our handles. This is a natural material and comes in several different random colors. Which means that it is not possible to choose the color for the horn. It is usually 99.99% black in color. Moreover, sometimes there are scars, dents and projections on the horn material. These occur naturally and are creations of nature. We have a policy to never waste any natural material since we have a high level of love, regard and respect for the nature around us. In fact the scars are unique and we consider them to add character and uniqueness to each individual knife rather then believe that they take away from the beauty of our work.As a matter of fact, wood is also a natural material and nobody can choose the grain and the color either. We would like to inform the customers that we cannot supply any specific colors even if we receive an order in advance. Customers should consider themselves lucky if they receive a color of their choice. We would therefore request you to abstain from making demands for any specific color. I assume it is normal practice to use this material for a handle and have this type of warning. Do other knife makers use this method with the iron and steel combo for the blade?

I was looking at the suisin, but I don't think that is the type of handle I want. It looks like a great knife; I am just not sure I like the handle for a Gyuto. I want a handle that conforms more to my hand like the other knives. I also don't want a light wood colored handle. This is probably not the best reason to not buy a knife but I like the darker handles for my chefs knife. I'm still undecided on which one I am going with. My Fiancee mentioned to me that she wants to add a Yangiba as well. I'm also in the market for this type of knife. I haven't really looked yet, but I know what I'm looking for. I want a Carbon steel blade with a Japanese style blade (one sides blade). I know these knives require extra care but from what I've been reading this is the best material for slicing fish as it keep its sharpness longer than other blades. For this knife I wouldn't mind having the same handle as the Suisin. As it looks now this will be in my knife block. I don't know the exact knives but I will in the near future. 240mm Gyuto Bread Knife Paring Knife Carbon Steel Yangiba Honesuki Knife Block Scissors Shapton Shapening Stone Glass honing rod(steel) Boardsmith Cutting Board Three weeks ago I was getting a Wusthof knife set. Now, I am reading three different forums and reading as much as I can staying up till 2 am every night.I didn't anticipate the choices of blade length, Europe/Japan, Blade Material, handle material, etc. Atleast I know when I get my knives they will perform better than Wusthof knives and they will last a while and are great quality. Thanks again for all of your help! BigBoyDan - those are nice knives! Some of them are out of my price range but very nice. Thanks!

I think you have convinced me to go with the KF Gyuto. I am still up in the air about the 240mm or 270mm. Aside from a bread knife which I will be going with, What other knives do you recommend buying? I am going to get a paring knife. What else should I get? What paring knife & size do you recommend? I also want a knife to take meat off of the bone and also to cut apart a chicken going through bone and cartlidge. Is this the same knife? Boning knife? Clever? I am pretty new to the knife thing and I'm hoping to get the right knives from the beginning. I only have my one Santuku and thats all. Do you know of a knife block for the larger knives, or should I go with the Wusthof that I have read about on other threads?

Bob - Thanks for the advice!! Sorry to bombard you will all of these questions. You seems like the resident knife expert. I have been looking on the suggested websites, Thanks for the tip!! Is there going to be a performance difference between these two knives or is it just aesthetics and knowing that my knife is "Handmade" versus a production model? How do the blades compare as far as quality of material and durability? Are there any other knives that I should consider in my price range that are better than what I have listed? Somewhere I got it in my head that 210mm was a 10-inch blade. I am looking to purchase a 10-inch knife so I will be looking for the 240mm model. It would seem that the 270mm ight be overkill. As the blade gets longer to they increase the size of the handle to compensate for the increase in length so that the knife is in balance. It would seem that as the blade length increases the balance would change significantly. Thanks for the help!!!

I am trying to find the best Gyuto/Chef knife for the price range($250). I have been doing my reading and I'm not sure which knife to go with. Originally I was just going to get some Wusthof knives since I figured that would be fine. But, I decided that I want a really nice Gyuto and I will use Wusthof for paring/bread knives. It seems the general idea is to spend the most on the chef's knife and that is what I plan on doing. How does this plan sound? Should I go with other Bread/Paring knives? How do you store your knives? Should I go Japanese/German? I was looking at a 10-inch knife. I was thinking about getting the Ryusen Blazen 210 mm Model. But, I then read a post from octiveman about the Hattori forums knives. How are these knives? It is about $100 more for the knife, but if it that much better I am fine with that. The Hattori knife looks really nice. I do cook and I think any bigger than 10-inches would scare my Fiancee. I don't care if it is German/Japanese I just want a quality knife that will last a while. I also plan on buying the Korin DVD and getting a 1,000 grit and 4,000/8,000 grit stones to keep my knives sharp. I am probably only getting a few knives to start since I just got engaged and we are buying a house and money will be tight. I guess my question is, If you had a $250 budget to spend on ONE Gyuto which one would it be?

Since the weekend is over, I figured I would tell everyone where we went for dinner. I was hoping for EMP or Gramercy Tavern since we have been to and love those places. They were both booked and in the end on a recommendation from my parents we went to the Four Seasons Restaurant. I couldn't have been happier with the choice. We were celebrating the engagement of my Fiancee and myself and this restaurant was perfect for this type of occasion. The service was impeccable as was the food and decor. We ate in the Pool Room and it was gorgeous. We were able to carry a conversation and celebrate the occasion, which is what I wanted. The waitstaff was great and really took care of us. They took pictures of us and really made it a memorable occasion. I don't know the story behind it, but we were given two huge plates of cotton candy at the end of dinner. Anyone know what the deal is with the cotton candy? Here is what I had, everything was delicious: Apps: Oyster Selection Saffron and Seafood Risotto Entrees: Venison with huckleberry sauce Dessert: Grand Marnier Souffle Petit Fours Cotton Candy On Friday, we went to Le Bernardin for dinner. We both had the Chef Tasting which was delicious. My only gripe about the restaurant was that we spent $800(including drink, tax & tip) and we really weren't that full. We were both satisfied, but I was expecting to be full. I probably could have had a dirty water dog on the corner of 51st and been fine. I've had other tasting menu's and each time I had trouble eating the dessert. Otherwise, everything was fantastic. This afternoon we stopped by Hill Country and had some beef/pork ribs, Moist brisket, Jalepeno Sausage and some other sides. This place is awesome. Lots of smoky goodness. Overall, we had a great weekend in manhattan with lots of yummy food.