CDRFloppingham

If this is some kind of informal marketing study, I would have to vote "no" on this concept. I like dessert about the same as your average person and I would not be interested in eating dessert after dessert...even if the "progression" were good.

Monday evening, my fiance and I had the pleasure of dining at EVOO http://www.evoorestaurant.com/ in Somerville, MA. Boston is a wonderful city by the way; neither of us had been before. Clio did not disappoint although I wish we had room for their tasting menu. But I digress. Here was the 8-course tasting menu (I'm missing a few items, sauces, and accoutrements- this is from memory). House terrine with pickles and whole-grain mustard Braised tongue, potato croquette, habanero hollandaise Salad with rabbit confit Lamb's head soup Pork skin risotto/arancini with pan seared scallop House-made BBQ sauce, chicken sausage, plantains, onion pickle Local ashed-goat cheese with honey Beignet with fresh berries and whipped cream The food was expertly prepared and plated and we got the accompanying wine flight (one wine per course - good thing we took a cab). What does this meal cost? $60 ($90 with the wine flight). I think it is a stupendous bargain compared to most other tasting menus. I think the skill was quite close to a high-end joint (in DC we have Cityzen or 2491 or Komi). What we didn't get was very expensive high-end meats and produce (no foie or Kobe or morels) and, it must be noted, many high-end places do offer more bites. It could be that the wines were cheap as well...I'm not very knowledgable. In this economy, I'm pretty sure I would prefer 2+ of these "budget" tasting menus over one Citronelle. That's how I roll. Please discuss.

That would be hideous. How many calories a customer is taking in is none of the server's business! The server "can't understand" why you wouldn't want to save calories? She needs to be keeping her mind on the job, not on the customer's waistline. If I thought a server was doing that to me I would respond: "Do you think I'm fat?" and see what he or she said. Back to the original post: If you want to avoid weird intrusive server behavior, not going to chain restaurants is a good way to start. ← Did you see that I wrote that he, as the customer, is right? I'm just saying that it could have been the manifestation of a subconscious thought on her part...not malicious although not acceptable in a service occupation either. With regard to your comment that implies that this happens more often at a chain restaurant, could you explain that further? Maybe you are generalizing that chain restaurants hire/tolerate rude servers more than non-chain restaurants? It is my impression that the restaurants who train servers to do things like squat next to your table to take your order, and otherwise "personalize" service, tend to be corporate chains. ← Maybe it was the waitress' impression that overweight people like Diet Coke, not regular Coke? Her impression was wrong in this case. Maybe yours is too.

So when it's time for dessert, she should ask everyone else in my party if they'd like dessert, and turn to me and say "but not you, right?". As far as her helping me, I don't think that's her place. If it were I should be able to reciprocate and offer to go over the S.A.T. practice tests with her. Should I tell her "it's your first day, huh?" ? I know I'm big. She knows I'm big. Now all of you know I'm big too. It's not a problem. It's not like I'm trying to hide it, or have an issue with it. How about if you showed up at a restaurant with an extremely good looking person of the opposite gender, and the waitress said "you two aren't together right?" You know, because you are so hideous you couldn't possibly be standing next to one of the beautiful people. It's presumptuous, and whether you have an issue with it or not isn't really the point. It just shouldn't happen. ← IMO, you're overreacting to this whole thing. Most of us agree that she did the wrong thing. However, some of us are trying to explain why it might not have been done maliciously or why it wasn't a big deal. I think your extrapolation of what happened to you to your "you two aren't together..." scenario is ludicrous. That would be malicious and mean-spirited. You think her comments were equally nasty?

Diet Coke is not simply regular Coke that has had the sugar replaced with aspartame. Diet Coke is actually an entirely different beverage than regular Coke. It was developed at a time when the people at Coca Cola were worried that Pepsi (a lighter, less intensely flavored, sweeter cola product) was gaining market share. Diet Coke was created specifically to have a "Pepsi-like" flavor profile. And Diet Coke was a huge success. New Coke, then, was simply Diet Coke with the aspartame replaced with sugar. My understanding is that Coke Zero is real Coke with the sugar replaced with aspartame. This is really, in my mind, the true diet "Coke." The other stuff is a completely different product from Coca Cola. ← That is very interesting.

That would be hideous. How many calories a customer is taking in is none of the server's business! The server "can't understand" why you wouldn't want to save calories? She needs to be keeping her mind on the job, not on the customer's waistline. If I thought a server was doing that to me I would respond: "Do you think I'm fat?" and see what he or she said. Back to the original post: If you want to avoid weird intrusive server behavior, not going to chain restaurants is a good way to start. ← Did you see that I wrote that he, as the customer, is right? I'm just saying that it could have been the manifestation of a subconscious thought on her part...not malicious although not acceptable in a service occupation either. With regard to your comment that implies that this happens more often at a chain restaurant, could you explain that further? Maybe you are generalizing that chain restaurants hire/tolerate rude servers more than non-chain restaurants? How is that different from the way that this server could have been generalizing that overweight patrons tend to drink Diet Coke?

I agree that waitressing is a service industry and, in this instance, you, as the customer, are right. However, maybe you're being a little thin skinned? Your BMI is at least 38 (6'2", 300+lbs). Maybe she felt that she was trying to help or couldn't understand why you wouldn't want to save a few calories.

WOW!!! My DVR will be set tonight.

I think it can be argued that Padma, by shilling a fast-food burger, is compromising the "gourmand" persona she has nutured on Top Chef. On the other hand Paris Hilton has no integrity, morality, or principles for which to compromise. ← This comment is sooo not hot.

We watched the calamari, papaya show last night (DVR baby). I thought it was total nonsense that the woman who ended up winning (she cooks at a steak place in Astoria) served two dishes for the main (calamari savory and a papaya smoothie with granola). \ Bogus...the challenge is to use the incongruous stuff in the same dish.

I read the bios and the talent looks pretty thin.

http://tv.msn.com/culinary-picks-and-pans/?GT1=28130

David, perhaps you took my post not as I intended. I would love to see a youtube of your broadcast. That's all I meant.

Yesterday, I sliced open my left third ("bird") finger cutting a mango in my hand. Whoops! How often do you cut yourself cooking? Let's define cut as drawing blood. We also need to normalize for cooking intensity. For instance, if you only cook one meal a year, you shouldn't be cutting yourself very often. If you're a professional, we expect more often. Me? I'd say about every 8 weeks and I'm a non-pro cooking 80% of our meals. How 'bout burns? Defined as at least first degree. So it's more than transient pain, say from small droplets of splattering grease. At a minimum, a burn should leave a mark that hurts for a couple of days). For me, burns are distinctly uncommon. I did get a nasty second degree when I was in college cooking a burger on a hot commercial cooktop and a big splash of grease nailed my thumb.

I thought they're usually killed by breaking the crab in two, smashing the crab's body over something hard and straight (like the gunwale of a boat). I believe there's little meat in the body.

YouTube link to the broadcast please.

I like bacon-wrapped tofu.

eGulleters, 1. Can I make panna cotta in a large container and let people scoop out their own portion? 2. If yes, what would be the upper limit of volume I could do (1 qt, 2 qt)? 3. I would like to do chicken, shrimp, and, maybe, beef sate. However, we don't have a grill now so I'd have to cook the meat in the kitchen. This will stink up the house. Do you think I would get an acceptable result if I cook the day before (then air out the house) and quickly reheat on a grill pan before service? 4. We want to do food that can be eaten standing up. Can anyone suggest a starch with the sate? Maybe some naan torn into appropriate sized pieces? Lettuce cups (not exactly starch but to complement the meat). Thanks all eGulleters!

I think the producers of Top Chef better pay attention to the complaints. Something went dreadfully wrong this year. Season 1 was compelling. Season 2 resulted in an unworthy winner, Ilan Hall. Seasons 3 and 4 rocked...great competitors, great cooking. Apparently Bravo fixed the problems. Season 5, I think, was lamer than Season 2. An uninspiring winner (I would never go out of my way to eat Hoser's food) and no interesting drama. Note to Bravo - the Hoser-Ho thing was not interesting. I don't know how to fix this but this season sucked. Given all the problems, maybe add a creativity factor to the judging to decrease the changes of some average cook like Hosea making it through? He never had an original idea...much like Ilan.

My fiance and I were there last weekend. Many thanks to the LV experts. Here's what happened at L'Atelier. http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...dpost&p=1647442 We ate at the Bouchon cafe in the Venetian for a couple of breakfasts. The baguette were delicious. On another note, I do not recommend Blue Man Group. It was 30 minutes of entertainment stretched (with weirdness) to 1:45.

BTW, I complained about the fact that OpenTable didn't let me know that the upstairs at RM was closed; they apologized and gave me 1000 points. I'm satisfied.

Actually, Chef Rick Moonen closed his upstairs restaurant, as an opportunity to "reinventing the dining experience." Click here for docsconz's post. Our server told me that, given the economy, Chef Moonen decided to close the upstairs. I don't know what is correct. You got to meet Chef Joel Robuchon himself?? That happened to me once. I was eating a boeuf au poivre at L'Atelier late one night. During the middle of my dinner, I lifted my head up and I saw Robuchon and one of his chefs/translator looking at me. With my broken French, I was able to have a short conversation with him. He is a charming man and an excellent chef. And yes, I saw "God" that night, and I'm still breathing ... ← Yes. Chef Robuchon was there. We engaged him in conversation and he gave me his card. I considered asking him for a pic of him and me but I thought it would make me look like a total idiot. The hostess made a point that he was there and, by gosh, he was. He looks like he did in the real Iron Chef...except grayer and older. The Executive Chef, Steve Benjamin, also came around talking to us...that was cool.

← Wow. As many of the commenters to that noted, that was tactless and classless. Carla took the blame on the show, and instead of being grateful for that, Casey made sure to rub it in one more time. While she attempted to save face, she ended up making herself look like a totally mannerless person. In addition to that, Carla's bio on the TC website and Carla herself say that she has classical French training. SO either they're lying, or Casey is just plain wrong. ← In her interview in the Washington Post, Carla says she went to L'Academie de Cuisine in Gaithersburg, Md. ← I have been to medical school, not cooking school (Wash U Baby) but I have also taken the recreational classes from L'Academie de Cuisine (mostly in Bethesda...the professional program is in Gaithersburg). L'Academie was founded and still run by Francois Dionot, an old school French chef. While my opinion may be not the best informed, I think she got classic French training. L'Acadamie has produced some of DC's finest chefs.

With the possible exception of Marcel, the sous chefs for the TC#5 finale would have beaten the TC#5 chefs senseless in a real competition.

Hoser is NOT Top Chef. Worst winner since Ilan Hall.