bmdaniel

I am pretty sure Bobby Heugel of Anvil set up the bar program there; Chris - I hope you have Anvil on your itinerary!

Sadly I am almost 3 years removed from living in Houston, but other ideas I'd add (besides echoing Feast) are Little Bigs (Bryan Caswell's slider restaurant), BB's for Cajun (if anyone will vouch that it is still pretty good), and Ruggles Cafe in Rice Village (it's not spectacular, but I have a soft spot for it; pretty impressive dessert selection, counter service). There's also a number of decent lunches at nicer restaurants if that's what you want (just had lunch at Haven a couple of weeks ago and it was quite good; Reef and Catalan do good lunches as well). If you have a weekend lunch I highly recommend the Sunday Brunch at Hugo's.

Nathan - Does that mean you are not sold on CookingIssues conclusion that stock in venting pressure cookers is not as good as non-venting (or even traditional)?

That's still something like $1.20/cup coffee. I'm not sure it's the best place to cut back.

I am really regretting not just buying this in the first place and instead plunking down $400 for the weston pro-2300 My one concern is that you do have flexibility to do bigger bags with the side sealer (I can do a whole primal in mine).

I posted this in the other thread as well, but I think they are essentially selling a $150 decal that says Sous Vide Supreme http://www.qualitymatters.com/VacMaster-Chamber-Vacuum-Sealer-VP112-by-ARY-p/qmar-vp112.htm

The VP112 has been on sale at qualitymatters.com for a while (strange little website, but lot's of vacuum sealer stuff). http://www.qualitymatters.com/VacMaster-Chamber-Vacuum-Sealer-VP112-by-ARY-p/qmar-vp112.htm Only 650 there.

I have not used liquid nitrogen myself, but the cooking issues primer seemed pretty good (as their stuff usually is): http://www.cookingissues.com/primers/liquid-nitrogen-primer/

Do you consider a medium-rare conventionally cooked steak to be lukewarm? Any meat cooked at 135 SV should approximate that in terms of serving temp.

This was always an issue for us growing up. Our workaround was tape.

Scott - It's not clear what you are trying to say or do at all. Here is the idea of the plate in case there is confusion - you should be waiting until the plate is the same temperature as oven ambient (however long it takes). Then you should put the pizza directly onto the plate. It will take advantage of the ability of the steel plate to dump heat quickly into the pizza (much more quickly than the ambient oven air could). This should generate a nice pizza. I can't think of any easy test with a thermometer in an oven that would cast any light on this issue. Maybe putting a metal pan of water on top of the steel plate and measuring it's temp after 5 minutes vs putting a metal plate on the rack and measuring it's temp in 5 minutes and comparing would be the best way to compare heat (although having the cold pan intermediate is not a perfect analog for the pizza directly on the plate).

How did you expect an inanimate steel plate would make your oven any hotter? Did you try pressing your hand against the heated plate? That may have been instructive.

I am a very lucky man - my wife ordered it for me!

Funnily enough, we also stopped by Dude Sweet after we went to Lockhart Smokehouse - my wife got the Blackstrap Fudge (blackstrap rum, blackstrap molasses, drunken pecans) and loved it. Next up is the albatross (blue cheese). I'm off carbs so I didn't try anything - they are very generous with samples usually so try whatever sounds interesting! Holly - my wife bought 4 pieces two weeks ago and still has two left - that difference between us is probably why my weight is a multiple of hers.

Hopefully it's just an issue of getting the kinks worked out - definitely a lot of promise there.

Jeff - I've recently tried both of these as well. I agree with giving the meat nod to Pecan Lodge - it seems to me that Lockhart still has some kinks to work out. When I went I thought the pork ribs were over salted (which is very hard to accomplish with my salty tastes), and the shoulder was almost inedibly dry. Still, on the whole, I agree that even with the ups and downs it was the best of what we have in Dallas (with the best things being the brisket and the sausage). I'm still hoping they'll settle in a bit and up their game to the Lockhart standard.

I had a great meal at CityZen a year ago. Would definitely recommend it.

Does anyone have a rough idea of what the sugar levels in these Old Tom's is (Hayman's and Ransom mostly)?

The concern is bacteria that started in your mouth in the first place? I'm not sure that makes sense.

Mine is pretty similar to your basic one, except I usually just throw in a raw garlic clove or two and use all walnut oil (trying to keep omega 6 ratio down - refined walnut oil has been the most palatable option in this regard I have found in this regard). My second most frequent is soy+apple cider vinegar+garlic, some kind of sweetener, and walnut oil - quite good as well.

Chris - Another question I'd be interested in (given Nathan's background) is how comprehensive of a BBQ reference is it?

Chris - do you have the Kitchen Manual? Would like to see what that looks like.

I thought I had read at one point that butter in particular could help promote the maillard reaction - anything on that Chris?

Chris Shepherd is leaving Catalan in May - nice to catch him before then (I haven't lived in Houston for two years, but that was our favorite spot). With that same caveat, I'd recommed DaMarco as well - lunch is a good option there. Similarly Feast.

What kind of wine do you like? Are you looking for wineries to taste great wine primarily or beautiful/interesting primarily? Some Sonoma suggestions: If you like Pinot Noir, I love visiting Siduri in Santa Rosa (great pinots, lots of different single vineyard wines to taste, great people) but it is just a warehouse in an industrial park. Copain has great Pinot and Syrah and a very nice new facility (probably fits both criteria). There are quite a few nice tasting rooms in and around healdsburg - Holdredge, Davis Family are two favorites Others: Rafanelli Ridge Ramey William Selyem Many of the above require an appointment, so definitely call ahead.