Morgan_Weber

I did a little research this morning when I got to the office. Last night Colicchio and the judges made such a huge deal about the cholesterol in lobster. Check these two links out. The first has to do with the cholesterol in chicken: http://www.annecollins.com/cholesterol/cho...rol-chicken.htm The second has to do with the cholesterol in lobster: http://www.annecollins.com/cholesterol/cho...imp-lobster.htm Now, I understand that a roast chicken breast might be a bit larger than a lobster tail, but the thing to notice is that they are extremely similar in their cholesterol levels (lobster coming in under chicken respectively). IMHO, the difference is not nearly enough to warrant calling Brian in to scold him during the judges table time. As one of my friends pointed out, had Brian not held the immunity, he could have very well been sent home because of the lack of knowledge on the judge's part. I would make the case that the myth of lobster being loaded with cholesterol comes more from poaching it in butter, than from the lobster itself.

That would be awesome Jeff. I'm glad to hear that you liked Abacus. I have to say that Tre has been very professional thus far, not to mention quite talented. His plate on last night's episode did leave a little to be desired, it seemed, but my wife and I think he has a good chance of taking this all the way to the end. Not that our opinion means anything. lol. Looking forward to seeing the pics.

This is not a thread to insite vendettas toward restaurants in Houston at which you got burned. No one though, likes going to a restaurant and dropping a decent amount of money for what is supposed to be fine-dining caliber food, all to realize that it is mediocre and uninspired. I've lived in Houston for two years and my wife and I enjoy trying different places. We do our best to keep up with the new restaurants popping up, and also are willing to try just about anything that we hear about via word-of-mouth (we'll try anything once). At first I read reviews on B4-U-Eat.com. I thought it was a good concept. After one sifts through the reviews from the types of people that are annoyed about how slammed a restaurant is on a Saturday night, it seemed like there were a few who gave good, honest reviews of places. I kinda lost faith in B4-U-Eat after a I wrote an honest review about a restaurant where my wife and I dropped close to $200.00. It was posted for a few days and the owners apparently read the review and got loud with the people at B4-U-Eat. Next thing I know, the review was gone from their website. It seems like everyone on eGullet is fairly like-minded when it comes to dining. My question is, what are some of the fine-dining restaurants in Houston where you love to spend your money and really feel like it is worth it? If you want to add the a few places where it wasn't exactly worth it, please do so as well, but be reasonable and give good details regarding your opinions. Cheers.

So now it's 10:00am and all I can think about after reading that description is getting some awesome BBQ for lunch... Barefoot Contessa...that gave me a great laugh this morning... Cheers!

It was called the Kingsford BBQ Challenge Thanks for the education on BBQ. ← oooh right, right, right, right, right...I missed that...lol. kingsford charcoal...ew.

I thought overall the episode was pretty good...minus one bit of confusion...or semantics... I might get ripped apart for this stance and I know there are exceptions, and I understand that typically BBQ is a really broad term that has regional implications, but IMHO this was not a BBQ challenge...this was a grilling challenge. BBQ takes hours to cook. Anywhere in the US where BBQ is taken seriously (Texas, Memphis, the Carolinas, etc.), one doesn't confuse barbecueing with grilling. I guess to many people the term "barbecue" is a controversial and confusing term, but more times than not, it involves taking a really tough chunk of meat, and smoking it for an incredibly long time over LOW, LOW, LOW, heat until it breaks down and becomes tender. I was surprised at Chef Norman for even commenting that BBQ should be cooked low and slow...they only had two hours to cook! I can't think of any real BBQ that can be cooked in that amount of time. I wanted to point one more thing out. The metal container that allows charcoal to be set inside of it, on which a metal grate is suspended above, is called a grill...not a 'barbecue'. One does not barbecue on a 'grill', one barbecues on a pit... And what was up with lighter fluid soaked charcoal??? I love it when grilled food tastes like lighter fluid... There are better ways of getting charcoal ready to cook with... Cheers to Brian for the charcuterie dish. Ruhlman would be proud.

My wife and I went to Dolce Vita Saturday night. It was our first time there and we ordered pizza and split it. Their pizza is awesome. The next day, we took her parents. They got pizza, while she and I opted for something different since we had eaten their the previous night. I ordered the maccheroni with prosciutto and she had the eggplant parmagian. Everything was wonderful. I can see this becoming a regular place for us. Dolce Vita is simple, specialized, and well executed. The service was impeccable...not exactly what one would expect for as inexpensive of a place as it is. Cheers.

Wow, after reading these, I feel better about some of my more expensive meals. $700 at Cyrus in Healdsburg, CA. We had four people though and brought two of our own bottles. Add another buck fifty for those. On our honeymoon, my wife and I dropped $550 at Topper's on Nantucket and another $400 at the John Hancock Inn in Hancock, New Hampshire. The food wasn't that expensive at the Hancock, but we had a bottle of d'Ychem waiting for us in the room after dinner. My parents would fall over dead if they knew that...

...ew.

Not that it is everyday kind of cooking, but Charlie Trotter's "Seafood" book is quite inspiring and thought provoking. The pictures in his books are kinda like food porn...hehe...

...the fries were actually pretty tasty. Let me know how it went for you.

A buddy of mine read this thread, and although he is not a member of eGullet, wanted me to post this one for him: He own's The Cafe Nervosa Cookbook...yeah, from the sitcom "Frazier". It was the coffee house that Frazier and Niles frequented...

My favorite chips in the world: Cape Cod Barbecue, with Nantucket Nectars Lemonade... My wife and I made it our official snack, while on our honeymoon in New England.

I haven't seen a thread on this topic yet, but what is the most embarrasing cookbook in your collection? We all have them...it sits there on the shelf, you can't bear to throw it away, but would never want anyone on eGullet to see it and know that you actually paid for it. Mine is "The Lake House Cookbook" by Joseph Sponzo & Trudie Styler...yup Sting's wife. Sadly, I bought it because I'm a huge Sting fan. The recipes all have a ridiculously long list of ingredients. Only redeeming recipe IMHO, is the cobbler...but reallly, who can't find a good cobbler recipe?

I am so jealous that you all got books handed down from grandmothers. I am currently compiling notes from my grandmother and mother. Writing their recipes down (they knew how it was all supposed to 'look and taste', so many things are left out) and tinking with things to get them as close to the way my mom remembers them as I can. Once that is done, I believe it will be amazing. Favorite cookbook? I reference Shirley Corriher's "Cookwise", all of the time.

I agree, Cova is probably one of my favorites. I'm usually surprised by some of the small boutique California wines they get in on occassion. The atmosphere is nice and the food is pretty good. I like that Monsterville Horton is concerned about wine education and thoughtfully presents a well selected wine list. As far as The Tasting Room goes (I believe they own Max's), I like the atmosphere and the concept--being able to choose any bottle, which they'll open for a two glass commitment. Most of the bottles that they have in their main room are all $30 or under. I think that is a good bottle price range for a wine bar that doesn't mainly focus on retail. Even with a corkage fee, one should still be able to drink good wine for $30-$40 a bottle. Unfortunately, The Tasting Room's wine list could be better. I'm never really blown away by the selections that they have. Haven't been to Sonoma, but you've peaked my interest...I'll have to drop by. I always thought that a wine bar that really paid attention to their food selections would be awesome. How many times have you been somewhere and ordered a cheese plate and they bring out three or four selections of cheese, one of which goes well with the wine you chose? I don't think it is impossible to have a large cheese selection available that pairs nicely with all sorts of wine. Throw out the old tale of hard cheeses with red wine and soft cheeses with white. Ever had a stinky epoisse with pinot?...mmmmmmmm. It just takes the knowledge and diligence.

In the last two or three years, it seems like wine bars have been popping up all over Houston. At first, I thought this was a really great thing—getting to sample a lot of different wines-by-the-glass for pretty reasonable prices. Recently though, in my humble opinion, they have become commercialized and gimmicky. After reading all the hype about Max’s Wine Dive (Corner of Shepherd & Washington), we decided to drop in one night and see what it was like. Maybe I just didn’t get it, or maybe it just wasn’t for me, but it seemed like they were trying WAY too hard to be laid back about wine. I should have seen the red flags when I checked out their website and I should have known that a place that calls itself a ‘dive’ probably isn’t one at all. After looking over the menu and wine list, I felt like their mission was to take wonderful ingredients and marry them with everyday foods that most people grew up on…ie. Foie Gras on a Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwich. I love foie just as much as the next guy, but come on… Some of the “catch phrases” that we saw on shirts that the staff wore, spoke of “haute dogs & shiraz”, “kobe & cabernet”, and my personal favorite read something like, “fried chicken & champagne…why the hell not?”. Some of their wine descriptions had phrases after the wine style that said, “…like putting on a really comfy pair of jammy’s”. What?!?!?! Don’t misunderstand me, I hate wine pretension. I hate walking into a tasting room at a winery, or speaking to a sommelier in a restaurant, or ordering wine in a wine bar, and dealing with people that are stuck on the culture and snobbiness that is often associated with wine and wine education. My question is, could this be taking it too far? Is the gimmicky aspect of Max’s for shock value? It is a popular place—they’re slammed almost every night it seems. A lot of people rave about their food on B4-U-Eat. Am I just missing something? I would love to know if some other folks on here have an opinion on this or even care about it. What is it that you look for or would like to see in a good wine bar?