sxfan

Had a really solid dinner at NOCA on Saturday. The highlights: chestnut soup with fioe gras ravioli ( as good as I had at Daniel in NYC), shortrib ravioli (tasty but a bit over priced at $18 for 1 rav), scallops with salsify and vanilla brown butter. The shortcomings a very average lobster bisque ( touch too thin and a bit too much sweetness from the lobster stock) and the pork belly which had an unpleasent texture to it. Generally I prefer a bit more creamyness in my pork belly . Overall a really enjoyable meal and I'll be back soon. We couuld sure use more places like it in phoenix.

can we take a cab there? What should we expect the the round trip to cost?

I'll be traveling to San Francisco in July and was looking for the best pasta experience to be had. I'm a baig fan of the pasta tasting at Babbo in NYC and would like to try something along those lines. Any help would be great.

You might want to try the culinary schools. I know when I was in school and I had a project to do it would have been way easier to get some buddies together and rent a kitchen for a couple of hours rather than try and do it in my tiny appartment. Maybe also talk to someone at a restaurant supply store. They may know of people trying to do recipe testing for yet to open restaurants.

Though most of my experience is in the back of the house which differs slightly, I think the best way to break into the NYC rstaurant scene is to find a place that suits you and your experience level. By that I mean,don't try for the newest or hottest restaurant/bar of the year, but a place that is well respected and has a long history of turning out good employees who have moved on to other places. Once you have some respectable NY experience under your belt the transition into the job that you really want will be much easier. But then again, it never hurts to apply and there is something to be said for just going for it.

Thanks for reminding me of how great the baguettes at FCI are. Anyone have the recipe?

I've been wanting to check out Spring Restaurant. 4 courses for something like 39 euros. Really great reviews but you have to book far in advance because they only have 16 seats.

I graduated from FCI a few years back and its good to hear that they're still going strong. One thing to note however- students that attend this school go in with varied levels of prior experience. There were several students in my class with 5+ years of cooking experience so people may have had a better meal with us then they might have with the next class. Its really just luck of the draw. Also, there is usually a little more instructor "involvement" when they are hosting special functions especially if the clss is that new.

One thing that may throw off your analysis is that I ask him to throw me all his amuses so I can see them, but a typical tasting does not have 15 amuses. ← O.K. Good to hear. I need to get back up there and see what they have been doing more recently.

I haven't been to Binkley's in a while and while the food looks technically amazing, I almost feel like it is getting overworked and overcomplicated. Maybe on some dishes all those flavors work, but I just can't imagine wanting that many "challenging" dishes thrown at me during one meal. Those kind of dishes should be spaced out over several courses to add interest to the meal at a point when the diner is getting comfortable- not a series of punches thrown in combination. I don't know, I guess what I'm trying to say is, that (like The French Laundry) I liked the style of the food better when they first opened.