Wilfrid

There may be an interesting topic in that comment, Steve. I think people look for different things when they visit restaurants. I don't think I would describe what I'm looking for in the same terms as you, although I understand what you're saying.

Pompous ass.

He was handsome? :confused:

I would say a Larousse is essential. Much more than a cookbook, but it's hardly short of recipes.

Welcome back, empress of the oatmeal. Don't try to get too much sympathy for your trip to Hawaii. I didn't notice any of the sweetness effect this time round. A bit of tweeness, but not sweetness.

Clue. You have met him. We have both met him at the same time.

Gramercy Tavern top a filet of beef with bone marrow. One or two disks. The good news is that when I expressed my appreciation, they brought me out an extra order. Probably about six slices altogether.

Mmm, looks like I completely fumbled the herring roe. I found the black bass just a shade salty, but it was a technically fascinating dish. Overall, very precise and imaginative cooking. I would have taken cheese instead of my dessert, but that rhubarb pie looked good. The wines were terrific.

Maybe not. Maybe they've just been around for a few weeks.

Yes, I'm sort of with you on the steak description, Steve. I am finding it hard to put into words. Very tender, but not in a soft way - still kind of biteable. While I have a second, let me download the other dishes from memory, and y'all feel free to correct me. Raw tartare of sea bass with mussel juice, paired with salmon belly sashimi (what was the dressing?) Mussels in a chilled asparagus broth Very rare fillet of sea bass with fava beans and smoked herring row. This was the second green sauce in a row, which I thought was an aesthetic mistake. Baby beef as described above Four desserts: a rhubarb tart with some kind of ganache (?), warm chocolate cake with chocolate sauce, a kind of espresso sorbet over coffee ice cream and a macaroon, and something served to Steve P. which he ate before I could catch a glimpse. And good bread - simple small baguettes - and butter. Okay gang, what did I get wrong?

Thanks, but then I am puzzled by the comment about them being in the market at the weekend. I buy them from stores like Garden of Eden all the time. Or am I buying something else which I stupidly believe are garden peas?

I am very fond of barley. It works with stewed lamb - indeed any kind of lamb. It is also found, along with beans, in the Jewish dish cholent - but there are people around here who are going to know a lot more about cholent than me.

...but the Lobster Factory at Chelsea Market does sell fish supplied either by Alex or the Karlins or both. Are there yet?

I like peas. (Yes, peas.) Can someone explain what English peas are? If we had them in England, we must have called them something else. Thanks.

That was Ruby. What did happen?

Originally in Sydney in 1994; it had become legal to shoot 'roo as game shortly beforehand, because it had multiplied pestiferously. Subsequently in Australian restaurants in London. In New York, Eight Mile Creek has it, but I haven't got around to sampling yet. Balic knew all about 'roo, and we did discuss it a while back -the old search engine problem...

I ate dinner at Blue Hill last night with some ornaments of eGullet, who may choose to expose themselves hereafter. I don't have time to review in detail right now, but wanted to mention one intriguing dish. Described as "baby beef", it was several slices of leg meat, served rare over oyster mushrooms, fingerling potatoes and fava beans (peeled! good!). "Baby beef" - why isn't that veal, you might ask? The meat was a rich red color, and was explained as a grass fed calf from the Hudson Valley - slightly older than veal calf, if I recall correctly. The meat was mild in flavor but with a very unusual and attractive texture. It was tender, but almost had a snap to it - hard to describe. At the time, it strongly reminded me of meat I had eaten before, but I couldn't place it. Venison? No, this was much more delicate. It came to me this morning; it was very reminiscent of one of my favorite game meats - kangaroo, also usually served rare. Quite distinctive.

New York has an extraordinary range of produce, if you're prepared to go around and track it down. Sadly, it can't give me a lot of things I desire: the best feathered game, a range of French and Spanish charcuterie, readily available offal. Can't get andouillettes for love or money. No, for food shopping, Barcelona (and indeed Paris) may not have New York's variety, but they have greater depth in the kinds of foods I love.

Gin and oysters. An' they say British food is bad... I dunno.

Cakewalk, if I was making it up, I'd be cooking much more difficult stuff! Glad you enjoyed the thread so far. If you'd like to learn how fallible we are, I recommend the "Stiving [sic] for imperfection" thread too.

There was a thread discussing this somewhere else recently. Oh well, looking forward to the new search engine

Is it a myth that drinking hard liquor with oysters makes you sick? Or was it just whisky and oysters?

Margaritas with some Mexican food, perhaps? But I take your point. A nice malt accompanies smoked cheese well.

Wuss.

Oh, bubbly and Campari. New dimensions open up! Thanks for that.