Wilfrid

slightly harder than sushi? Au contraire. Did you mean sashimi (I know you know the difference, just wondered if you misspoke)? Sushi involves some work. All they have to do here is cut the fish up and not drown it in oil and salt. I can do that. I'm sure Mario can do that. Someone in Esca's kitchen can't.

They are nuts. At $184 per head for food, that makes the restaurant more expensive than Alain Ducasse New York ($165 for dinner), and that restaurant has not had an easy ride even in a city which likes throwing money around. "Sketch" is a horrible name. I couldn't figure out from the article what kind of food they will serve - I assume it is going to be from the Gagnaire side of the partnership, because no-one is going to pay that sort of money for Moroccan food. Also, it sounds too big for Michelin three star service - 70 covers? I may be wrong, and please correct me, but that seems significantly bigger than the average three-star dining room. I have my doubts about this one.

So whacky.

Also facilitates very tired arms by the end of the evening, as I recall. Thanks for the description Cabrales. I can recognize the restaurant in everything you say, but I am still keen to go back. I am sure I would have ordered very differently. Was there a temperature problem with any of the hot dishes? I know I harp on about this, but at Craft it seems almost built-in to their silly style of service.

I once asked for good places to eat chili in Manhattan, and Tommy told me where I could get a particularly "atrocious" version, as I recall. Arguably unhelpful, but I think I smiled and moved on (actually I didn't, I had some kind of dig back at him). Sometimes on eGullet you get useful information, sometimes you get a joke, sometimes someone snarls at you. The one thing you can't do is legislate in advance that you don't want inane or unhelpful replies - I guess you kind of throw something in and see what comes back. The more relaxed you are about it, the more fun it will probably be.

I believe summer starts on Thursday. So of course I'm holding back until then Campari and grapefruit juice is my new hot weather favorite. For wine, I tend to go to chilled rose rather than white. For everyday swilling, an ordinary Tavel is hard to beat. I find cider on tap more refreshing than beer, assuming it's cold. And I admit I have started on the margarita program already - not frozen, on the rocks, salt of course.

i think they are the sum of their parts. That would be a "no". Jinmyo, only once. But how difficult is it to execute? It's the concept I query.

You could taste the fish?

Whether it be rhubarb or gooseberry, I would err on the tart side. I think it's a matter of tasting and adjusting with sugar as you go. But dessert-level sweetness - which is what Union Pacific gave us with the salmon - doesn't work for me. I also just remembered rhubarb being used in the same way with monkfish liver at Esca. Do we have gooseberries in New York? Or should I shut up and go and have a look for myself?

Emperor's new clothes. I really think so. I can drown raw fish in oil and salt at home.

You didn't go for any charcuterie :wow: ! I remember hating the roasted fingerlings. Greasy and, of course, cold. How were yours?

I second John's mackerel suggestion - delicious. Also, a second step with the fool is to fill a blind pie or flan case with it, and bake -maybe sprinkle some brown sugar on top. Last week I ate two dishes at Union Pacific in New York which used rhubarb as a garnish, and in either case a gooseberry puree would have worked as well. One was lightly poached fresh salmon (but stick with mackerel for preference). The other was a slice of sauteed foie gras. Now, that's out of reach for most home kitchens, but if you can find a nice terrine of foie gras, try serving it with a gooseberry sauce or puree - nice appetizer. Heck, a slice of chunky pork pate would do! Edit: And gooseberries are going to work with duck in just about any fashion.

What's wrong with the Spice Girls?

Liza, I think twenty minutes was too much last night. I might even try ten. I am expecting a heap of mangu de platano to be on the table tonight: yellow plantains mashed with butter and garnished with bacon or sausage or egg, vinegary onions, or whatever. Pass the Presidente.

I used to roll slices of luncheon meat (a kind of British version of bologna) around pieces of rubbery Edam cheese. That one I've given up.

We don't have shrinks. Nor are we neurotic. Tony was simply angling for a gratuity. Tommy's point is actually borderline interesting. My basic grasp of the science is that pH is a measurement of the acidity (or non-acidity) of a liquid. The pH scale runs from basic or alkaline through neutral to acidic. It's obvious that we consume plenty of liquids with an acidic pH. I had assumed that we also consume plenty of basic liquids. Dairy products are pretty basic, no? I am harping on the term "liquid", because I know there is some controversy about applying the concept of pH to gases. Can it be applied to solid food? Where are the whitecoats when you need them? But the explanation of why cilantro tastes soapy to some people is plausible. I noticed yesterday, through sampling, that Baby's dinner, when home-cooked, is packed with cilantro in true Dominican style. So Baby may grow up with a taste for soap.

Was the Tidal Pool your entree? I had thought it was an appetizer. And if not, what was? Also, did Ilo seem busy? - rumor has it that there are frequently empty tables to be found.

It's just that New York deli sandwiches, with which they're in competition, are terrifyingly large. Like most English people who come to New York, I found the sandwiches ridiculously over-stuffed at first - and I suspect New Yorkers may think the Pret sandwiches are a swindle. Depends what you're used to.

Sorry, Jinmyo, I don't recall. It was part of a tasting menu, and may well have been an unannounced entremets.

Unfortunately, the Brits seem to have let the term "cheddar" escape and frolic around the globe and settle on any kind of semi-hard cow's milk cheese, disgusting or not. But I am in agreement with m'learned colleagues here on the merit of protecting such names.

You are my candy girl, and you've got me wanting you. I love honey. These questions are all very mysterious. I do have a "reaction" to some fruits, especially avocado - I develop temporary sore, swollen patches on my tongue and soft palate. No big deal, and wouldn't stop me eating the fruit if I liked it. I never get this reaction from tropical fruit, and a scientist friend once explained that there were some important chemical differences there - no, I can't remember any detail. I am aware that an "allergic" reaction is a quite specific physiological response - although the term is used more widely in everyday conversation - so I hesitate to say that I am allergic to these things. But it's raw tomatoes I really hate, and they don't make me sore or sick or nauseous. I just find the flavor very aversive.

Cabby, with respect to vitello tonnato, it is usually a very light dish, involving extremely thinly sliced pieces of veal in a tuna dressing. Replacing the pale wafers of veal with sweetbreads and using a piece of raw tuna is, indeed, cheeky. I remember a dish created by Philip Britten when he was cooking at The Capital in London which I found amusing. A large plate came to the table covered with a cloche, which was whipped off to reveal what looked like a very miniature burger and chips. Turned out to be foie gras in a miniscule brioche bun, with very small French fries. Funny in its immediate visual effect, but also tasted good.

Thanks for these recipes. I do like potato salad, especially as an accompaniment to interesting sausages, but I often end up making lazy versions with mayo out of the jar - sorry, plus onions and chopped capers or gherkins for the acidity. A friend used to make an excellent potator salad, tossing the potatoes in good oil and adding cumin seeds. I can't now remember whether he toasted the seeds - would that be likely?

And for how long? Assume I am cooking two perfectly sculpted rectangles of salmon filet, five inches by two inches and one inch thick. Ta.

Stella, why is scrapple conceptually repulsive? I can see you might not like it, but are the ingredients all that different from what goes into a lot of ground-meat-based products? Bits and pieces of pigs, essentially, just as commercial burgers are usually bits and pieces of cows, and so on. And I will take a good slice of scrapple over a Big Mac any day.