Chris Hennes

The date has finally arrived: tonight at 9 Eastern season 7 kicks off. I'm especially looking forward to having Ripert as a judge. And I'm ever hopeful that they come up with a way to make these early episodes interesting, at a point when there are WAY too many contestants to keep track of.

My first reaction is that I would not serve tacos as a main course: if you are trying to "introduce Midwesterners to Mexican flavors" I'd try to avoid falling into the stereotype that all Mexicans eat are tacos. In fact, I'd be inclined to very deliberately avoid the "big three" commonly-genericized Mexican foods: tacos, enchiladas, and tamales. Which is not to say those cannot be fantastic foods, or that they are not regularly eaten in Mexico, but if you are trying to broaden people's minds about what is "Mexican" I think you should go further outside their expectations. What about a chicken with molé? Or a fish course? It's always struck me as odd that growing up in the midwest we would never associate seafood with Mexican cooking, despite their huge coastline.

Each course came with its own utensils, and all utensils were cleared before the next course came, so the knife was definitely related to the oysters, as was the spoon. The oyster was not delivered completely shucked, it was still attached to the bottom shell (for reasons of "freshness" according to our waiter).

I wonder if the service was really a function of the reservation time: it was a 5:30 reservation, and they had already asked me when I confirmed the reservation if they could turn the table at 8 (I said yes). The meal started out quite rushed, and then swung the other direction, becoming a bit ponderous towards the end when there was plenty of time to go. Like I said above, not terribly so, just enough to feel like it could have been better-paced. ETA: And while I did not get up, my wife's napkin was indeed refolded almost immediately when she did. Thank goodness for that!

I had dinner a few nights ago at jacket-required kind of place (Le Bernardin in NYC). One of the courses was basically raw oysters on the half shell. In addition to the oysters arranged in a row on ice, there were four utensils brought out: a tiny two-pronged oyster fork, a three- or four-pronged "salad" fork, a "normal" spoon, and what looked like a pointed butter knife (no idea what it really was, since I already had a real butter knife on my bread plate). Of course, ordinarily I eat oysters by just upending them into my mouth. Which I did here, after using the oyster fork to separate them from the bottom shell. Now, I think this was OK, or at least expected, based on the fact that when I was done they brought out a finger bowl and napkin. But in the interest of not appearing to be a complete rube next time: what the heck was I supposed to do with all those utensils?! Is there a more polite way to eat oysters?

My wife and I had a pleasant early dinner at LB last Wednesday, just having the regular prix fixe menu. I had the Kumamoto Oyster Sequence, the Warm Lobster Carpaccio, and the Hiramasa. All were good, but the Hiramasa was truly fantastic, the best I have ever had that fish prepared. The service was not firing on all cylinders, unfortunately: nothing terrible, just a few minor timing missteps. However, I should point out that I must have been giving off a "cheap bastard" vibe (no tie, no wine, no tasting menu): the look on the waiter's face when I ordered a 1973 Armagnac for dessert was pretty funny. So the less-than-perfect service may have been a reflection of that.

My wife and I ate at GT (in the main dining room) last Tuesday evening. I had originally intended to order a la carte, but the vegetable tasting menu looked intriguing so we went ahead and ordered that instead: I'm very glad we did, the food was excellent. The menu was: Note in particular that it was not vegetarian, just vegetable-focused. There were a couple standouts for me. The "Warm salad of asparagus and black lentils" had no business being called a salad, but damn it was good. Just really excellent focused flavors in perfect balance. The fettuccine was also excellent, though I was thankful that there was only about three bites' worth because it was very rich. The last savory course was raw english peas with a warm broth poured over them at tableside: this was my least favorite course, in part because it was simply too large and so became monotonous after a few bites. For dessert we had a cheese plate: a small strawberry shortcake was also provided. The shortcake was nice, but by this point I had had plenty of food and was in the mood for a liquid dessert. We had cocktails with dinner so I can't comment on their wine list or the sommelier, but our server was attentive and unobtrusive. Overall, a very nice meal, especially after spending the rest of the day in airports.

My wife and I had a pretty good meal at Alma de Cuba this past Thursday. We were going to a show that evening, so our reservations were early (5:30) and there were only a few other tables filled when we arrived. I like the aesthetic of the dining room, it has a great feel to it. I was disappointed that their baseline Mojito is made with Bacardi, but a few more dollars and you can get it made with 10 Cane, a distinct improvement. We started with a Japanese Red Snapper ceviche that was good, but not mind-blowing (though the sweet potato is a nice touch). I then had the Oysters Rodriguez, a riff on Oysters Rockefeller that is very nice. The oysters were perfectly cooked and all the ingredients were well-balanced. For my main course I had the Lechon Asado, a crispy pork dish. The portion size was a bit on the large side, but I suppose that's not much of a complaint. The mojo had great, vibrant flavor, as did the rice/bean side dish it came with. The pork was a little dry, but I'm not sure that was such a bad thing: the outside was super crisp and there was plenty of sauce. We did not have any dessert, and only had cocktails with dinner, so I can't comment on the wine list or their desserts. All told, though, a very good meal, and we didn't have any problems with the service. It's hard for me to judge the price: I was on vacation, and we had spent the previous two evenings in Manhattan, so everything in Philly seemed very reasonably priced by comparison.

Although it is beer week, I would be remiss if I actually ordered a beer when Katie was behind the bar. Had a Sansom St. Sour with my burger on Friday, and it's a beautiful summer cocktail: light, refreshing, and very well balanced. At Katie's insistence I also had the Panna Cotta for dessert: good thing I did, too, it was absolutely wonderful. Not too sweet, nice tang, and sprinkled with whole pistachios to boot (I'm a sucker for anything pistachio).

As promised I hit Oyster House for a burger (and a cocktail, of course!) on Friday. I have not had very many burgers in Philly so I can't vouch for the "best" claim, but it's a damn fine burger. The addition of the fried oyster on top sorta sets this burger into a category of its own, the brininess of the oyster mingling with the blue cheese and burger to create a very unique taste. The bun is a very nice choice, just firm enough to stand up to all the juices, but not so firm as to take over.

Does making it moister also help with the fragility of the tortillas, or are they still difficult to handle before cooking?

When making Jaconde I generally use an almond meal that is almost the texture of flour (maybe as coarse as graham flour, but no coarser than that). Is that the texture you're going for here?

So, which one of you is going to go order one? Take pictures, please. You just know it's not going to look much like that marketing shot...

Right, I think that just like with say, cornstarch, adding the seeds to a little liquid to get them flowing first is the key to "unclumping" them.

Could you say a little more about this? Is the friction from the blades heating the soup up (above the warm tapwater temperature)?

Agreed, that burger sandwiched between two grilled cheese sandwiches seems like something invented by a drunk frat boy. Props to philadining for even trying one, if you ask me. I'd have run in the other direction. I think when I'm in Philly for lunch next Friday I'll be hitting Oyster House instead!

I've been meaning to make doughnuts for a long time, but never really got around to it. Maybe this would be a good excuse...

Wait, which? The Lunazul or the Milagro?

My sister returned from Italy a few weeks ago raving about "Hippos". So of course my wife had to get us some so we could see what they were all about (thanks, eBay!): This taste a lot like Ferrero Rochers, though they come in a much more endearing form. The filling is a bit thinner and the outer layer not quite as thick as the rochers. Overally, pretty tasty.

Interesting, Luke, that's been the opposite of my experience, I find that fat freezes exceptionally well. I have had excellent results freezing salume (and bacon, for that matter) for many months, perhaps as long as a year, with no obvious degradation in quality if brought back to room temperature slowly. Are you vacuum-sealing it?

You will also probably want to check out the "Cellars & Chambers for Curing and Aging" topic over in the Kitchen Consumer forum: it's focused on consumer-level construction, but there is a lot of discussion of the appropriate temperature and humidity for various types of charcuterie.

Oh yes, millions of them, they started last week and look like they've got another week or so to go. It took me about 15 minutes of tree-shaking to get a gallon of them, which was about as many as I figured I could deal with. It's been in the upper 80s and low 90s for the last couple weeks, and the weather has been great for berry production. When I got them home I simply put them in a pan on the stove and brought them to a boil for a few minutes, then went at them with an immersion blender and then a coarse sieve. So now I've got a cooked mulberry puree, unsweetened except for the natural sweetness in the berries. I think the first project for them is some PB&J bonbons, but that will only use a little bit of the puree I've got.

I just got back from a friend's house where I was picking mulberries. Well, picking isn't quite the right word: I put a sheet under the tree and shook the branches. Picked out the bad ones and viola! mulberries. Beats the hell out of picking wild blackberries, that's for sure. But, now what do I do with them? The flavor is quite good: a bit tart but not too much, reminds me of blackberries. But the central stem poses a problem, I don't think a pie would work well. Is jam my only option? If so I guess I'll use it to fill chocolates, but I'm open to other uses for the puree.

Yeah, that seems like it could be right. It definitely wasn't just a triple shot of espresso: I still wound up with one 2oz cup full. So if I am understanding correctly, a "ristretto" is where you use more than the normal amount of grounds for a given quantity of water?

I have been going to a local coffee shop once a week since they opened in December: last week, the guy at the counter sees me and gets all excited. "We've started pulling triples!" he exclaims. "Great!" I say. My internal monologue is more like this: What the $%^& is a triple? Your espressos were awesome, you bettter not have ^&*(ed them up!! Well, the espresso was still awesome, thankfully. But what was the guy talking about? I'm pretty sure that's exactly what he said, or at least, it included the word "triple" and related to espresso.