FoodMan

I was planning on checking the show out at least once simply because she has great camera presence (i:e so damn cute) and seems so well spoken and not 'ditzy' or goofy. I keep on forgetting though. Now based on your rec Doc, I'll definitly check the show out.

I actually think NR is getting better every week. I would hate to miss an episode. Tony's love for the food and passion show in almost every show..well in some more than others. The last two shows were fantastic examples of that, right up there with the Singapore show. I am more of a Spanish food enthusiast than Japanese and I ate up this week's show. The level of creativity and respect for cuisine is just stunning! Who else thinks of putting chocolate eggs in the sun (and make it look like a lot of fun)? Or grill caviar? NR is one of those shows with an independent spirit where the viewer never knows what he's going to get (A hedonistic food experience in Spain, a search for perfection in Japan or having a blast in the American Southwest...literally) but he or she always connects to it, well at least I do. If Tony is having a blast, I do too. I cannot wait to go back to Spain, hopefully San Sebastian this time.

I do enjoy this show and Jose's passion is more than evident, but is the incessant music annoying to anyone else or is it just me?? It is so intrusive especially when he is cooking something.

I had the same problem when trying to make my reservation (them being on vacation, mailbox full,...), but wouldn't you know, their online reservation system was working fine on their website. So, I filled out the online form, clicked submit and hoped for the best. Maureen called me a few days later to confirm...and to change my res time from 9 to 8 PM .

It's been a long time since I first heard about Le Reve and was -honestly- surprised that such a highly regarded fine dining establishment is in San Antonio, on the Riverwalk no less! Finally, this past Friday we had dinner there, a leisurely wonderful dinner. We were driving from Houston, my wife and I, to spend some the weekend with her sister who recently graduated from law school and finished the bar exam and to meet some friends the day after for a wine tasting dinner to celebrate her accomplishments. For the first time ever, we were going to San Antonio with NO kids. So, after more than 2 years of delay we could finally make a reservation at Le Reve. Since my wife and I were driving from Houston on Friday after work, I wanted the latest possible res time. This turns out to be 8PM and not a minute later. Maureen, the chef's wife I believe, explained repeatedly that they cannot take anything later than that because it will be a "relaxed" and slow meal that will be as long as 3 hours. She was not kidding . We skipped lunch and left to the lovely city of SA a bit earlier than 5 (like 3:30 LOL) and by 7:45 two lovely ladies and myself were dressed to impress (well, they looked really good, I just made sure I have a jacket on) and walked in to the unassuming and very small Le Reve. We were greeted by name by the hostess, Mrs. Chef, and shown to our table. Le Reve is tiny and once inside you will forget that you are on SA's Riverwalk, that touristy stretch of mediocre-at-best restaurants. Le Reve is calm, relaxed, with no more than 10 tables in the dining room. The small kitchen is pretty much in the same room, and separated from the dining room by a high pass and a half wall that served as a wine rack. We could see all of the restaurant, including the kitchen, from our table (or any table really). We could see the Chef and his 3 cooks, yes that’s all, just THREE, quietly working on tonight’s plates. With a kitchen so open and so close to the dining room it was baffling to me how calm the restaurant was. Not much noise, not much heat and no “cooking” smells. I will get to the food in a minute, I am just trying to convey my amazement at how Chef Weissman works and how efficiently he utilizes this tiny space to turn out world class fine food. On to the food. The Menu is divided into the prix fix 8 item (plus other goodies) menu and the a la cart menu from which the diners can select 3, 4 or 5 course dinners. Being our first time there, we opted for the 8-course chef’s tasting menu. The a la cart menu had some really interesting stuff as well (sweetbreads and pork belly come to mind), but we wanted to leave it to the chef and see what we get this time around. This was a bit vague, since they had no descriptions for any of the courses, so a copy of the menu would’ve been useless to me now. We asked about most of the dishes to figure out what was what. The 8 course no-substitution menu (I know because I asked—I really wanted that pork belly on my version of the tasting) simply went like this: Tortellini Onion Tart Foie Gras Prawn Fish Beef Cheese Dessert The first course, the tortellini was filled with creamy chicken liver. It was one of the best dishes of the evening and from the get go we were pleased that the menu had no descriptions of any of the dishes. A tortellino filled with liver would’ve been an almost spontaneous no-no for the ladies. In all it’s luscious delicate glory the tortellino was divine and my sister in law could not believe it was filled with chicken liver. It had a faint livery taste but it was expertly made and all three of us wanted a plateful! The onion tart was filled with caramelized onions and goat cheese and was as good as it gets. It was sweet a bit salty and slightly tangy. The Foie Gras was served with a caramelized apple piece and a sweet sauce. Cooked simply and perfectly the fatty liver tasted fantastic. I did prefer if the sauce had more of a sour element to it. As it is, it was a bit too sweet for my taste. The prawns were another highlight. Two large ones, expertly fried and served with a mango slaw. This was another dish that I could eat a whole bucket of. Once again, I was amazed at how they could make fried foods in this kitchen, right next to us and we could detect no frying smell. Our fish was monkfish, pan seared and served on top of two purees, a potato one and a deep green pea one. Delicious, moist and very simply sauced. I think this was when we got a small scoop of sorbet to cleanse our palate. It was a grapefruit and vermouth sorbet. Tasty and refreshing. The beef dish was certainly my least favorite of the night. Not because it was poorly executed or bad. It consisted of a tournedo of beef with roasted root vegetables. I am not a big fan of beef filet, no matter how good it is cooked and this was cooked perfectly to medium rare. Also the whole dish screamed autumn to me, so it felt bit out of place on this menu and during summer. BTW, this was the dish that I was trying to substitute the pork belly dish for . To some it might seem a bit rigid of the chef not to substitute any dish on the tasting menu (unless one is allergic), but it really makes sense at a place this small, this lightly staffed and where everything is cooked a la minute. Our waiter had explained that the chef portions everything ahead of time for the tasting menu smaller than the a la cart, so it would be very disrupting to allow diners to substitute and having to re-portion items from the a la cart menu. The cheese plate had two cheeses (do not ask me to remember the names, but both sounded Spanish…maybe even from Mexico) one mild and the other softer and slightly stinky goats cheese. Both were delicious with the accompanying marcona almond, dried apricot and honey comb. Our dessert was a simple hazelnut chocolate tart with caramel ice cream. Very good tart, sort of like Nutella on steroids. It was deeply chocoloaty with a lot of hazelnut flavor all in a crispy crumbly crust. Then the chef sends out mini-crème brulees to our table. Each is creamy, eggy with a brittle caramel layer and no more than 3 spoonfuls. So, we finish those as well. Right after we finished this and were enjoying our coffee –and very full- we get another platter of miniature desserts! This had a chocolate truffle, chocolate chip cookie, a couple of other cookies, a flan and a tuille. We did what we could and tasted them all, but no way we were going to finish them off. Throughout the evening we were continuously offered a selection of freshly baked breads. These included a foccaccia, parker house rolls, peppercorn rolls, cheese bread and baguette. All were piping hot and tasty. We had to pace ourselves and make sure not to fill up on them along with the two kinds of butter on offer. We chose not to get the accompanying wine tasting (which was pretty steeply priced) and instead relied on the proficient and friendly sommelier to select a couple of bottles for us that complemented the meal. Service was exactly what you would expect from a starred establishment. It was friendly but unobtrusive. Our waiter(s), sommelier and hostess were courteous, knowledgeable and very efficient. The whole staff made us feel welcome and relaxed, a real, class act. The meal took about 2.5 hours from start to finish. Again, this is probably a bit slower than other restaurants for 8 courses, but with everything cooked on the spot and a small staff it makes sense. In no way did we feel neglected or bored though. The food just takes some time to prepare. We were pretty much the only table left after paying our bill, so we shook hands with the Chef, thanked him for a great meal and chatted a bit about his recent vacation. It was a perfect evening and a memorable meal. I would love to go back and try the choose-what-you want 5 course dinner next time. With enough people we can probably taste the whole menu that way

This place sounds better and better everytime I read about it. The price is truly a deal as well.

I believe you should post this in the India forum. Sounds like a typical Indian dish you see on lots of Indian buffets. Vegetable Aloo maybe...

Wow...quiet a story Chris. I hear racoons love beer. I would say the flavor I am talking about is more fruity than anything. Like I said, it is really not a 'bad' flavor at all. It's just something I did not expect I guess. The beer is drinking very well. I have not had any of this brew in about a week, letting it condition a bit more. I'll need to do some more testing and report back if any other flavor comes up...

Did you use some honey malt? Your extra flavor might be from that. A little goes a long way. ← No, I did not use any Honey malt.

I just saw this new thread and I have tio say...WOW. Great job on that index, it is truly amazing! Prawncrackers, I am very jealous. That stuff all looks beyond perfect, pig perfect ;-). Chris- I am planning on making a beef based sausage in a couple of weeks (one of 4 different varieties and a total of 40 lbs of sausage). It's based on Armenian sausage you'd find in Lebanon, lots of paprika, cumin and garlic. Let me know if you are interested and I can share the recipe I came up with (but NOT tested yet).

Sharing a picture of the latest brew, the Honey Wheat mentioned up-thread. It came out very nice, but has a bit more 'additional' flavor than I'd planned, probably because the yeast was pitched at a higher temperature that it should've been. I'm hoping to have a wort chiller for the next beer...eBay looks very promising for that.

My wife is from a Colombian heritage and we visited Bogota briefly around Xmas last year and had an ok but 'sheltred' time (i:e Damn city felt like any other in the US and we barely had any contact with the local side!). I defintily enjoyed the Colombia episode and the attention he gave to the city of Medellin. That gentleman he was talking to in the restaurant, the one who almost teared up remembering the Escobar days, made it for me. He was the real deal, you know he lost friends during those dark days. Of course the fried food, sausage restaurant and the amazing sancocho did not hurt at all. The highlight of the Saudi episode for me were the first 15 minutes, honestly. Tony weeding out the serial killers, bed wetters and non-Apocalypse Now watchers was great fun and him at his sardonic best. As for Saudi Arabia itself...well it was exactly what I expected to see. Rich oil country (of course they don't use camels as a daily method of transport!! Does anyone actually still think that??) in the middle of the desert that is less than a hundred years old. Basically it's a Las Vegas without all the fun stuff. Interesting and well portrayed, but nowhere near enough interesting to visit. I also have a tough time taking Danya's portrayal of the 'laid-back' Saudi culture as common or a 100% accurate reflection of what it is like to live there. Like someone mentioned upthread, she had special previliges.

Just noticed I'd not commented on this... Papazian is a fantastic starter book for getting into the right mindset... but his brewing techniques are a bit idiosyncratic... he famously only uses one yeast, which he's kept going for many many generations (and which Wyeast released as a special release yeast over the winter). You must remember that he got this whole homebrewing thing off the ground in the 70s, so his thinking and his technology are a bit old skool. Nobody that I've found besides me has published anything recommending using a grain bag and a cooler for all grain brewing. I don't know why. Folks seem to like the sense of accomplishment that follows building a straining apparatus out of other things and attaching them to a cooler. Maybe they're more efficient... I've admitted I've not taken a hydrometer reading in years, and have no clue what my efficiency is other than 'good enough for me'. I like the bags for precisely the same reason you mention-- they're easy. They make clean-up a breeze. They're cheap. And they work. ← Heh..very interesting about using one yeast only! I did not know that. In the 3rd addition of the book he does say that a cooler is a very good tun for mashing and straining though. I do think the lack of bags use, even though he does mention it for grains, is odd.

Very interesting Chris. I would love to take a look at the recipe for the "Champagne of The North". I did bottle my wit this weekend. It tasted wonderful, very mild hop and citrus character and a nice mellow sweetness. I do think it could've used some more time for conditioning, it had a good bit of foam/scum ('Krausen'??) on the surface. I also noticed that the bottles had some of that on the surfacemof the beer after bottling, but it does look like it is dissipating slowly. As a side note, I am reading through Papazian's Complete Joy (3rd edition) and it amazes me that he does not recommend using hop bags or grain bags in any of the recipes. He mentions them, but that's it. They make everything so easy, I am just wondering why it would not be standard operating procedure to use those inexpensive bags!!

Asiah's eggplant curry. This stuff is addictivly good and luscious. As posted on my blog, I ate this for three days along with the Javanese Cucumber and Carrot pickle.

The Chronicle had a really cool article about Beaver's, mainly about their uber-mixologist Bobby. I am hoping to stop by with my wife tonight for some food and booze.

Personally, I would not try making a liquor from the white almond nut. I doubt it will make a good one. It's way too mild tasting and slightly on the sweet side. Who knows, though, if you have them and want to do something other than eat them, give it a shot and see how it goes.

Thanks for the infor Chris. I did some quick research and found these instructions to make the chiller as well. I'll look into it and see if it saves me that much money compared to buying one.

Quick update: As usual, a few days into fermentation, I gently swirled/agitated the bucket encourage any lingering yeasties to do their thing. That was last night. This morning the airlock is bubbling again every 20-25 seconds. I'm thinking that will stop by tonight and I am good to go.

It's a Wheat beer I am making, I used Belgian Wit II yeast from White Labs. The ones that come in a test tube (I almsot always use those) and you just shake and pitch in. I'll definitly update after this weekend. Edit to add: This is the yeast I used: * WLP410 Belgian Wit II Ale Yeast PLATINUM STRAIN – May/June Less phenolic than WLP400, and more spicy. Will leave a bit more sweetness, and flocculation is higher than WLP400. Use to produce Belgian Wit, spiced Ales, wheat Ales, and specialty Beers. Attenuation: 70-75% Flocculation: Low to Medium Optimum Fermentation Temperature: 67-74°F Alcohol Tolerance: Medium Review this strain Read other reviews for WLP410 Read FAQ for this yeast

Elie, It's been posted on egullet before; but, I have found Gunther Anderson's Liqueur making web pages to have a wealth of information regarding proper techniques and storage. http://www.guntheranderson.com/liqueurs.htm ← Quick question for those who have stored some away for a yr +. Went through the site link above and it seems written before the screw cap revolution. Anyone have any opinion on screw cap bottles for short term (6mths-2 yrs) storage? -Mike ← Screw cap is perfectly fine for both Nocino or Vin de Noix. My Nocino is over 3 years old and I have vin de noix from the same time frame and also from last summer (I am not makign any this year). Most of these are in screw tops, none are corked. On the other hand, if you have an IKEA close by, they sell these cool swing top bottles for a dollar or two each and they are both cool looking and work perfectly well. I use a cheap (brand: CITRA) red wine for vin de noix. I think it sells for about $10 for the 1.5 liter bottle. It tastes fine on it's own and works great for vin de noix.

No Kevin, I doubt you'll get a good liquor out of green almonds (I am thinking of the variety you eat whole) like the Nocino made from walnuts. Green wlanuts are all but inedible, bitter and I use them (sliced skin and all based on an Artusi recipe) to make a good liquor. Green almonds are no where near as bitter as walnuts, especially the green outer 'skin'. The variety you eat whole (earlier in the season) is pretty tangy, the later one (where you have to crack the shell) you eat the inner nut and is slightly nutty and sweet.

← I would do the same, but at least in the article he KNOWS he is being incorrect/inauthentic or whatever. He chooses to make drinks to his own taste and that is what he is trying to convey to readers. Problem is, with his ingredients, it is not a mojito anymore, so he shouldn't call it that.

Maybe they only check the article (which, honestly, was not bad) but not the video.

mmm...ok. Shaking Martinis and Manhattans might not be the 'proper' way of making these cocktails as purists might argue, but I do (covering head and soft body parts from punches...). This example is not nearly in the same ballpark as the issues outlined by slkinsey above though!! That was just bad and lazy. His cookbooks are not for this thread to discuss, I did recommend his How too Cook Everything to several newbies as a starting point and it is a fantastic tool for them even though I have never owned it. I do own the 'Vegetarian' one and it has been a very useful book in my collection.