tommy

why do you say that? just wondering as they really are two completely different items. paste adds a rich color and subtle but deep flavor. canned tomatoes, to me, wouldn't achieve either. for me it's not about the tomato flavor necessarily in this dish. but i'm open to suggestions!

i'm thinking ox tail and short ribs can be prepared the same way. nina's recipe is simple, and i have something even more simple, i think. brown the ribs in a heavy bottomed pot. remove. add celery and carrot and onion til softened. add 1 head garlic, 10 sprigs fresh thyme. add 1 can tomato paste to glaze. add 2 anchovies and 4 cups red wine and 2 cups chix stock. add short ribs, cover, put in oven at 400 and simmer till reduced to 1/4. strain, pushing juice out of solids, and return juice to pot. add cornstarch to thicken. not much really. serve with braised cabbage and watch people go ga-ga. i probably missed something, but that is just the basic braised short rib recipe. it's just so freakin easy and good.

so there's considerable meat on these things? i've only bought them at grocery stores, with the intention of using them for stock, so i've never paid much attention. although, a quick search on epicurious tells me that they are often used for braising and stews. "ahh", he said.

shouldn't you be sitting on a beach somewhere getting a massage? what am i missing here.

is there much meat on ox tail? i usually use it as a base for stock (see "pho" on egullet somewhere). however, my tail might be lacking the meat of others. it certainly has a distinctive flavor. to me anyway... and i've been known to talk just to read myself typing.

i actually tried this early on in my culinary career, mostly to impress mrs. tommy. much to my surprise, it worked! it's simply one of the coolest and bestest things you can do with your wrist...in mixed company.

mogsob, what is it about zins that you don't like? i don't think any other country is producing zins at this time. i can't imagine it will stay that way for long though.

i recently had a white port from Prager's Port Works in Napa. honestly, if i were blindfolded, i probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference btwn it and a red port. it was quite tasty though.

the menu said skate. is it common for the old, and excuse the pun, bait and switch with ray and skate?

somehow, half of my post got lost. i also said: rich, i like you already. i just had some pellegrini at lunch today, but they didn't have cab franc, so i had to settle for merlot, which is about 1/2 as exciting.

ROTFL!!!!!!!

Don't forget that they are also quite expensive. rich, i like you already. just had some pellegrini at lunch today. unforunately, they didn't have cab franc, so i settled for their merlot, which really is about 1/2 as exciting. oh no. lots of horrible CA wines can be bought for 10 dollars or less.

silly plots. we don't need member/writer status to talk about you behind your back! we all do it all the time.

this is in NJ, USA, for all of you foreingers.

you're effing joking, right? about having lunch with me that is.

american chardonnay demands specifics, as you've provided, as there are so many horrible, horrible wines from CA. these days, there are a few exceptions, and they are very exciting to find.

for months now, i've enjoyed interjecting nonsense in the middle of plotters' silly debates. i think once, maybe way back when, acknowledged me. that was cool. i liked that.

while this is all extremely fascinating, i'm still, yes still, trying to figure out what "turn of events" was being "reported" on. i suppose this question will go ignored, yet again. this fact, of course, is very curious. why john? why why why? i'm just losing sleep yet again.

i've been there, and i felt the service merited a solid 1.70 tip. on all occasions. but, as some might suggest, i'm a millionare. [note: that was all for my amusement and mine only...and yes, i've just amused myself, but probably not anyone else.]

i'm still baffled about the 1.50 tip. wouldn't 2 just seem easier?

i don't know ray from skate, but i'll agree it was very miserable to eat. all i wanted was to be able to break a piece of that beautiful flesh off with my fork and instead i got a battle that left me confused and angry. i did take the time to say something to chef cardoz however. he seemed surprised that i had a problem with it, but as i say, i haven't had it bone-on there since. i would hope you'd return now.

caviar? yuck.

you got that right. a bong hit or 4 is the only real answer.

i wasn't aware of this, and it makes a whole lot of sense. i've seen people actually fight over who was picking up the tab on dinners costing well over a grand, presumably so they could get the points. it's easy to see how this doesn't benefit the employer.

it has already bought you drinks. not cheap. i don't want to be the guy doing the forecasting for next year. Well, let's see, we're expecting x in revenue, y in operating expenses, z in t&a, oh wait! we can recoup z/1000 for certain expenses and apply them back in z, at an expense of t and then blah balh balbalhbalblhabl...oh eff it, we'll let the employees the freakin things.