RAHiggins1

I saw those. They were at $11 at the Sam's in Duluth.

I want to get a frenched pork roast for New Year's and I do not want to pay whole foods prices.

Well truly, you cannot come to the south and not sample the local faire! South City Kitchen Vinings 1675 Cumberland Pkwy, Suite 401 Smyrna GA, 30080 770-435-0700 www.southcityvinings.com

Nani Desuka?... I was taught to say "Keisan Onogaishimasu" for check please. I was also taught by my okinawan finace at the time to mix the soy and wasabi and to dip it protein side down. Okashi ne! and how DARE you put kethup on my french fries..err pomme frits!

The Crab House is casual and has a Raw Bar. I have found that if you order the fish and chips and add on the raw bar it is the most cost effective pricing on the menu. The location is about a half a mile from Dobbins on US 41. Zoom out on the google map to see the base. http://dineview.com/search/show_menu.fwx?/...=38003-001&ord= ← Farther south but just before I-285 on a plaza on the right is a Sushi bar named Umezono. http://search.cityguide.aol.com/atlanta/re...ant/v-103504557

The Crab House is casual and has a Raw Bar. I have found that if you order the fish and chips and add on the raw bar it is the most cost effective pricing on the menu. The location is about a half a mile from Dobbins on US 41. Zoom out on the google map to see the base. http://dineview.com/search/show_menu.fwx?/...=38003-001&ord=

amazon.ca just has "Kitchen Nightmares"only, not "Boiling Point", which happens to be the one I want to see. Anyone know if BBC america has or will air the UK version of Hell's kitchen?

I find the blog aspect unique and probably (as Fat Guy has said) something you will find yourself doing less and less of as time goes by. Limit it now, a daily update on most blogs is time consuming enough. The blog itself however is fascinating. It does make me want to fly to vancouver and experience what Chef Fowke has to offer. Keeping people up to date on what's local, fresh, and in season as well as what you are making of it appeals to me. I would go to the site just to pick up some tips or ideas. The Chorizo & tomato water, spot prawn, Savoury clams, smoked Sablefish has my mouth watering. I also agree that the googles ads really detract from what could be a well constructed site. I think that if the site becomes popular through the blog ( it really does say "Look what we are doing here!" to me) that it will drive business to the restaurants and that is how it pays for itself. You just have to get people to the site, maybe banners on taxi's and buses with just the url posted. The two restaurants look wonderful but should probably (Also what Fat Guy said) be incorporated into the main site more. My 2¢ Edit* extra spaces are bad!

Let your apron cover more than 6 inchs of your waist when you tie it on Back in my kitchen days, Marines especially, we learned to cook without getting the food on us. Marines as you might guess are trained to be somewhat metrosexual in the keeping of their appearances, even in the galley. Now when i cook at home my wife gives me grief because all my good shirts have "Badges of Honor" on them.

FN has followed the path of MTV who no longer even shows music videos but stuff like "Pimp my crib in the hood dog"...

Well, being associated with me has never yielded much in the past. Just ask my wife! Considering I heard about him in this thread Tom really does not know me yet. Let's just try to keep him in business. He gets nice scallops, but you have to move quickly. ← It would be great to eat scallops again. My wife will not let me buy them unless I can absolutely verify that they are not skate wing plugs. I understand that skate wing has found its way on to menus and is therefore not as economical as it was. Unless I can see the thin white line where the scallops were attached to the shell I have no proof to the contrary. She also has it stuck in her head that only bay scallops are real scallops. I have not felt like argueing that deep sea scallops are more likely to be the real deal. Edit* Curse you gods of spelling and grammer!

That report was on the radio Monday the 19th of November. Yea it makes me anxious about buying fish. I think I shall be visiting "Gulf Coast Seafood Market" as well. I already emailed and requested to be added to the emails.

This ties into my earlier post on imported fish. I was listening to the radio on my way to work and WSB AM750 had this report this morning. I had previously read reports from florida about 6 months ago when I became cognizant of the risks involved in seafood selection. I expect however this will raise fish prices across the board. Tightening Seafood Regulations (WSB Radio State Capitol Bureau) -- State lawmakers want to tighten up regulations when it comes to fish that's sold in Georgia restaurants. Dr. David Price, a Ph.D. with University of Florida, used DNA to identify fish sold in 56 Georgia restaurants, and found half that were supposed to be grouper turned out to be something else. "Of the 23 grouper samples I tested coming from North Georgia restaurants and super markets, about half of them turned out to be other species of fish. The most common substitution was an Asian catfish," says Price who uses DNA testing. He says usually its not the restaurants fault. "The restaurant owner may be duped by the supplier giving him a box that says 'grouper' when it's really something else. On the other hand, the restaurant owner may suspect that it really isn't grouper, but if he has the paperwork saying it was he doesn't mind," says Price. While no testing for contaminates was done on the suspect Georgia fish, there have been cases of fish with antibiotics, bacteria, and chemicals imported to the United States. "The sanitation practices that are used in growing and processing these types of commodities is not near the level of what our expectations in the U.S. are," says Dr. Mike Doyle, director of the University of Georgia's Center for Food Safety. He says the Food and Drug Administration, which has oversight of 80 percent of the country's food supply including fish and shell fish, isn't capable of handling the demand. "Our F.D.A. is really swamped, and overworked and underpaid... and really (don't) have enough resources to do much inspection," says Doyle. He says less than one percent of the food supply that's imported is visually inspected, with less than half of that actually sampled. Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irvin told lawmakers he would supported the tightening of Georgia laws when it comes to regulating imported fish. Edit* My kingdom for a spell checker!

My friends who are from New Orleans, but have lived here in Atlanta for the last 15 years always used to stop at Danny and Clyde's in slidell on their way back and pick up Poboys and muffalettas. They closed the kitchen in that one after the storm. I was just down there and picked up some tasty ones at Peck's on Gauze Blvd. just off I-10.

I attended a party in Slidell, LA this weekend that was catered by Jacque-Imos's Cafe in New Orleans. They served a Seven Steak Gumbo that was phenominal.

I stopped going to whole foods in Duluth when they moved away from Satellite Blvd. and the reason stated by Whole food's pres. was to move to more "Affluent Clientele". My money was just not good enough for them. It's ok though, because they are nothing like what Harry's used to be anyways. I personally hated pretty much everything that they made "in house" and served hot on their buffet steamtables.

The problem I have with the Asian fish markets and even Whole foods is that you really need to pay attention to where their fish is coming from. It it's Snapper from India, or Thailand or China, it can be loaded down with antibiotics. It's a common practise at "Fish Farms" due to the high susceptabilty to disease when kept close together. The FDA tests imported fish, but the best they can do is samples. So a lot of what I would consider to be inedible fish comes in everyday unchecked. Another problem prevelant in imported fish are the fish filets. I always select the fish whole and request it to be cleaned to whatever specifications I need. There have been repoerted cases of restaurants that unknowingly serve grouper filets that they bought and it turned out to actually be "Basa" a chinese catfish variety that looks and has the same texture as grouper but not the taste. Only when sent to a labratory for dna testing were they able to determine the fish's species. Once again farm raised and loaded down with sometimes illegal drugs. I've gone to the local asian market and could not visually find any difference in their grouper and basa filet displays. I could only conclude that they were not selling grouper. The same goes for shrimp. I now look at the labels on the 1lb bags of frozen shrimp in supermarkets just to see where it is coming from, (Usually Thailand) Kroger, Publix, Sams, Walmart, all foriegn imports and farm raised. Target however has "wild caught" Key west pink shrimp in their freezer. So at least at that point you only have to worry about the level of sulfites that have been added to "preserve freshness", which for me means I soak the shrimp for 30 minutes in a brine and don't make stock from the shells.

You have just made my day. Getting good seafood here is truly frustrating.

Have you considered gingerbread houses for the holidays? Great way practice pastry skills and there is money in that stuff that no one ever eats. ← Actually my best friend and I catered another friend's wedding at their request last year and then this year we were asked to do a wedding party for one of his wife's co-workers. The first was about 75 people andthe latter about 20. The first we did buffet style and spend the entire sum they gave us on the food and decorations. The marine corps taught me how to garnish a food line. Doves made from apples and tomato and lemon peel roses were bountiful on top of parsley covered tables. Four tables actually, with 30 different items to select from. We really went overboard. I discovered that I could have done half of that and been just fine. At my own wedding we payed a lot for just a fourth of what we had produced. Basically $750 of food produced about a $5000 catering job. However our wives were not happy with the rampage of the week prior to filled with shopping and prepping, not to mention that last minuite stuff at the church's reception hall/sunday school. They especially were not pleased with the conscription into the service staff. For the wedding party, I wanted to try my hand with plating dishes and putting them out for people to select from, we did five starters and 5 entree's to (cough) keep it simple. I learned one very important thing from that party. I'm going to need access to a professional kitchen and my best friend has never heard of the words "clean as you go". Your workspace should look like you have not started yet when you are done in my opinion. Spatula in one hand and towel in the other at all times please. Anyways I posted the pictures of the platings for critique in the "Plating and Presentation Q&A" Be gentle after viewing please. These were buy a guy with some formal training and a guy with none.

I'm sorry. I fail to see what is bad about drenching olives in Gin. Also, please appoint me.. please, please, pretty, please, with sugar on top.

I have to say also, that most Chinese restaurants I see in my area no longer distuinguish themselves by the Province from which their cuisines originate. Atlanta is not really known for it's chinatown though, and I have not been back to Chicago's chinatown since I was a teenager. In fact chinese restaurants do not even provide service like they did when I was a teenager. Now it all comes on one plate with a preformed upturned bowl of bland fried rice, a prefab eggroll and a chicken wing. I remember platters of food and covered dishes galore with enough for everyone at the table from just one order. All of it hot and fresh. Although, the owner of the restaurant that makes their own noodle, and dumplings did tell me that his father is from Shanghai, and I recalled at the time and related to him that I had seen Shanghai on "No Reservations" and that there was a dumpling shop that had the locals lined up around the corner in mid-winter to order from there.

I'm not at a corporate job now that was actually the restaurants I managed, I don't really make all that much, I am by no means financially set. At the moment I want to augment my income through catering or some such and eventually open my own place. I do however have experience in the industry. I've cooked eggs to order for 1200 Marines and I've worked 36 hours straight in a 24 hour restaurant on christmas eve and christmas day. You would be surprised how busy the only place open on Xmas can be. You stay in the weeds. It's possible to do in one day what you normally do all week. I used to come home wreaking of waffle syrup every day. I think that I would want to model a business after Muss and Turner Anyways, thanks. for the advise. I hope that I have imparted some wisdom as well. I still do not see myself trying to work my way up in a kitchen or striving to attain a Michelin star. My interest lies more in elevating my culinary skills and profiting from it as well. Although, I do personally regard being certified as a Chef somewhat glamourous

Oh man, you make me want to reconsider! What I am personally worried about is how rotund sitting at a desk has made me. I have not stood 10-14 hours on my feet in a very long time. I definately want to avoid that grind.

I am somewhat in the same boat as you. I do not have children to consider, but I do have a wife and a mortgage. I am currently in the computer industry but started out after high school as a Food Service Specialist in the Marine Corps. After my enlistment, I went into restaurant management. My goal had been to go back to school, get a business degree, and open my own restaurant. After 6 years of corporate nowhere land, I took a job at a computer company and ended up in sales less than a year later. Now, however I wish to enroll in a culinary program and more or less start over. I'm looking at a local school as well. Unfortunately they do not offer weekend courses and only the core program can be taken at night. (The Chef probably has a wife too.) So I will have to rework my weekday schedule to accomodate morning classes. I chose this school because they are the only one in Atlanta (that I have found) that has accreditation with the ACF (American Culinary Federation). I do not think either of us will enjoy working our way up in a kitchen at this point in our lives. Perhaps you should seek the capital to start your own business. Catering is an avenue that would allow you to continue to work your day job and could also be quite rewarding, if not lucrative. I have a feeling that is the path I shall be headed down. At least until I can convince a bank I am successful and get the loan to open a restaurant. Off topic - Oddly enough I am headed to New Orleans (actually Slidell) this weekend. I am attending a party with a friend (born and raised in Metarie) whose sister's husband has a band and they do an annual celebration. We plan on going to Pat O's to watch the Saints.

Give poor chef Symon a break. It's not like Paris has a "truffle store." Oh wait... ← Did they indicate whether the contestants were restricted to shopping exclusively at "Chairman's favorite places" ? It wouldn't surprise me if there was such a rule imposed on them. At least they don't have constant "product placement" like certain other chef contests... ← I thought it was clear they were required to shop at the same places, don't know how they were selected (though knowing that would have been nice). I mean, what are the odds of everyone running into each other at the same store all through the shopping experience if they weren't all going to the same stores? and why would they go to the same stores if given a choice to go elsewhere, particularly Besh, who is probably most familiar. ← It was stated that they had to shop at the chairman's favorite places. They then hopped in their van's and sped off to them. I cannot imagine someone handing me a large wad of cash and letting me loose on Paris. I would buy Baguettes, cheese , wine and then beeline to the top of the eiffel tower for a nice lunch.