Wilfrid

Congee Village has a lot of offal dishes on the menu, including goose intestines. I actually first (knowingly) ate intestines in a Chinese restaurant in London's Chinatown (it's long gone). In that case it was pig's intestines, served in little crisp rings. I was an immediate convert. I also look out for tripe on dim sum trollies; it's usually cooked with soy sauce, and therefore an unexpected dark brown color. I guess duck and chicken feet count as offal? Great cold chicken feet at Congee Village, as I recall.

That was a great post, and brought back some memories. Growing up in a pub? What a dream. And with cheese and onion sandwiches too. I had immediate flashbacks to the years I lived in Bristol where rolls filled with real cheddar cheese or cold black pudding, garnished with a thick slice of onion, were common in pubs. And fish and chips from newspapers. Why did that taste so good?

I am using cornmeal, I misspoke. As for fat, I had tried adding a little duck fat the first time, and a little oil the second time. I'll try the heavy dose of butter instead. What about anything to sweeten it? The second attempt was quite sour. Thanks for the tips.

I hope you didn't spend too much time on that.

It's an anagram for wine snob, except ingeniously omitting two letters. Cunning stuff.

Yes, but redundancy puzzled me too. Not that it matters.

Eh?

Ah, that's the blessing of being self-appointed. I sez so.

Good for you, you sound perceptive oenophile sage. Is my guess.

Nice not to get shot down for questioning a tradition. The good thing about the overloading with meat is that someone with supreme self-discipline can pull some out and save it for breakfast.

Should we also re-evaluate the proprtion of meat to bread? Personally, I find the bread doesn't play much of a part in my Katz sandwich experience other than temporarily keeping my fingers cleaning. That's an exaggeration, but never mind.

I'm out back already. How far do I have to? (...receding footsteps...)

Hmm

What's wrong with Jaqui? Sorry about the geezer on her shoulder.

Thanks for the info, Robert. As for tomorrow, I would if I could but I can't so I shan't. Edit for slow-moving memory; I have eaten the tripe at Babbo. It was pleasant but I believe I can do better .

Any problems with saltiness of the pastrami? Two out of the last three pastrami sandwiches I've eaten from Katz's have been excessively salty - not enough that you notice it when you get your sample, but enough to become overwhelming during the course of eating the sandwich.

La Lunchonette (their own misspelling) is run - or it used to be, anyway - by a guy from France and his wife. The menu was recognizably French. They had dishes like brains in black butter and sweetbreads, and they tasted like they might taste in France. Hence my positive comment. The downsides: it's a little out of the way (but no more than Rhone or Pastis), and it's a very simple, plain room, with rather hard chairs. I couldn't imagine lingering for an evening. I have used it for a quick lunch when visiting galleries out in the Chelsea hinterland.

I am having problems with skillet cornbread. I tried at Thanksgiving and it was much too dry and crumbly. I tried again yesterday and it was only slightly less dry and a little sour tasting. I am not using a commercial mix. I have been using yellow cornflour, regular flour, baking powder, milk, egg and salt. As for the proportions, I find it typical of recipes on this thread that they combine two cups of one sort of flour or another with a cup of milk and one egg. For me, that is resulting in a dry, crumbly mixture which I would scarcely call batter. I have tried doubling the milk, but it's still pretty dry and only getting stickier. I can't imagine changing to buttermilk would solve the problem, regardless of whether it would improve the flavor. Any ideas?

Macrosan hasn't been luring people into games of spoof again, has he?

L'Acajou has been good when serving one of their regional menus with appropriate wines, but it is not dependably good. I found the food at Chelsea Bistro utterly banal - in fact, one of the worst cassoulets I've eaten in New York, which is saying something. A place no-one talks about any more is Rene Pujol, because it's old-fashioned and in the thater district. But they prepare traditional bistro dishes with some competence. La Lunchonette would be worth a mention too, if it wasn't so studiedly uncomfortable.

Was the braised tripe on the menu? I don't suppose anyone sampled it?

You remembered to switch the oven on and didn't shake supermarket seasoning all over it.

Yes, the same guy. I am biassed because I got on very well with the first maitre d', a well-upholstered French gentleman. I have no idea why he left. I find the current maitre d' correct and courteous, but perhaps a little reserved. Service is not as jolly as it used to be; which is not necessarily to say it isn't better.

That could take me off onto a discussion of a, er, revealing production of "Sunday in the Park" I saw in DC this summer. But let me focus. I have frequently found cod used in upscale restaurants as a kind of blank canvas for whatever sauce or garnish takes the chef's fancy. Any flavor of the fish being thereby eradicated. I particularly recall disliking Paul Liebrandt's cod in curry sauce at Atlas (although the rest of the meal was enjoyable). This dish was an eye-opener.

Yes, Steve, please consider explaining the use of "over" in "over aggressive". If you have time, of course.