newguy

I agree. I think the Colorado lamb is the best. the eye of the rack of lamb is also twice the size of the aussie stuff...

My wife and I recently went to Otto for lunch. While our child is to young to eat food, there must have been 20 families in there all with children. They are extremely accomodating towards children, and every child in there was eating, one of the pizza's or salads or something right off the menu. They don't have a children's menu, but if your kids like to eat, I'm sure you'll enjoy Otto.

I couldn't agree more with the last post. I was there with a total of 8 people. there wasn't 1 dish that anyone ate that was good. fish was terribly overcooked, risotto was as overcooked as the fish was. the salmon was the fishiest fish i've ever seen. i got a pasta for a middle course, it had no flavor. every one of us was really, really dissapointed with the meal there. I don't think i would go back again...

you definitely don't have to buy a special gimmick pan to cook this way. at work the pastry team cooks their creme brulee's on a sheetpan, and all they do is pour water onto the pan with the ramekins of creme brulee and then another sheet tray on top, in a slow oven.

I agree, most likely they were old. thawed and frozen several times. do that enough and they are going to absorb to much water. no matter what happens, they are going to get soggy.

Just as a reference point, what are we calling "extremely slow?" What I mean by fine dining is for example, a restaurant with a tasting menu. An average check of 70 plus dollars. White linens. From my dining experience it seems like most places like this have a very hard time filling seats. Especially during the week. Is it just because most Jersey people rather go to NY for fine dining? Ive been to The Ryland, Venue, Nicholas, and Serenade, all of these places seem to be extremely slow during the week. On the other hand, Saddle River Inn is consistantly busy everyday. It must have something to with with location or the type of cuisine.

you don't baste with burnt butter, that would be retarded. once you have your nice crust on the fish, you would lower the heat and add butter to the pan. then you'd have a frothy butter which to baste with. this will also assist in releasing the fish from the pan if for some reason it stuck to your pan. what the wondra does is catch any moisture left on the fish that the paper towel didn't catch, and there is plenty of it. and a non teflon pan is going to heat differently and allow a better crust on the fish. i've worked in many restaurants, and i've never seen a non stick pan in any kitchen, but i have seen wondra flour and any grade "salad" oil in which to sear any protein...

don't put lemon on the fish, you don't need a cast iron pan. you just need a hot pan and a little wondra flour. always use oil first, grapeseed is just as good as canola, but 300 times the price. put the oil in the hot pan, put the fish dusted with flour in away from you so you don't burn yourself. when the fish begins to cook (as you will be able to see from the sides changing colors) put a tablespoon of butter in the pan, lower the heat and baste the fish. the flesh will turn colors as it's cooking. flip over. insert a metal skewer into the direct middle of the fish. if it is warm, it's done. thats it. if you want to add flavors, do it before you flip the fish over. thats when you'll add lemon juice, capers, parsley, a garlic clove, teriyaki sauce, veal stock, cranberries or whatever you want.

Allow your pan to become hot. dry the skin or flesh and dust with wondra flour. add plain oil (canola etc...) to the pan and make sure the oil moves in the pan. add the fish skin side down. when the color of the fish begins to change up the sides, add butter and baste the fish briefly. flip over and finish basting. instert a metal object into the center. remove and if the end is cold the fish is rare and if the object is hot, it's probably going to over cook.

I find that I go to certain restaurants BECAUSE i want 8, 2 bite plates, and I go to other places because I just want to have a great piece of meat or fish etc... Certain places are just made for tasting menus and others are made for a la carte. Anyone agree?

I have a few thoughts about this subject. I think as a parent, first off you should encourage your kids to do whatever they may express interest in. Support your daughter, it's a great thing to do. Second, you should get her into a kitchen quickly. Maybe the only thing she'll realize is how extremely difficult the work is, and maybe she'll head back to school and fix her grades and move on to some nice cushy office job with 2 weeks off at the end of December and every other holiday that exists... Third, I am a firm believer that this career chooses you, not the other way around. So maybe at 15, she'll show great interest and ability in kitchen work. That way, you can get her to fishish school, and then start working or head to a culinary school. I worked in the corporate atmosphere for a while. I couldn't take it, staring at a computer all day drove me insane. Went to school and have been working in a kitchen for years now, don't think I could do anything else.

Thanks for the responses. I've been to Fascino before, thats why I was looking to try something new. Maybe it was the night I was there, but I didn't think that it was anything to write home about...

Anyone know if either Blu or Table 8 have a website? Looking for a place to go for a little celebration

I went to Ora a few weeks ago with my wife and another couple (located in the old south street trattoria building). The menu reads quite nice, with very tempting, properly "worded" menu listings. A fair number of appetizers, pastas and entrees. It seems as though they have changed their menu since my visit, so I won't be able to supply you with a complete description of my meal, but I'll let you know what my memory allows... We were served a scallop with chanterelles for a canape. It had to be a U10 scallop. Enormous, a little sandy, and not that tasty. I had a salad. It was actually the best thing I ate, and I can't remember what it was. My wife also had a goat cheese salad, with pickled fennel I believe, it wasn't bad, and a friend had an arugula salad with roasted beets, which she was going to leave out until I convinced her that fresh beets are delicious. Unfortuneately, these were undercooked which didn't help my cause, she wouldn't eat them. And the other friend at the table got parsley polenta, which was a very DARK pile of polenta that was not quite creamy and not quite firm. He seemed to like it. I got a squid ink pasta, with calamari. The pasta was completely stuck together and overcooked, but the calamari was good, so that was all I ate. Our entrees were braised short ribs, which almost couldn't even be cut with a knife, a chicken dish with chanterelles which was deemed "good" a linguini and clams sauce, and I had a lamb dish, which was listed with cous cous and sweet corn (yes in november), but looked more like quinoa or bulger wheat, and I never saw or tasted anything that resembled corn. The meat was cooked perfectly though. We did get some desserts which were all decent. It is quite expensive, I'd have rather eaten some where else for that cash.

When did Daniel stop serving lunch?

My wife and I were in Boston this summer. We ate at Clio and at No.9 Park. I have eaten my way around NY City, and I am also a professional cook, and I have to say that No.9 Park is absolutely one of the best meals I'd ever had. I had one of the two tasting menus, fantastic. Service was great. If I ever go back to Boston I will definitely go there again. Clio was good, but not great. Certain dishes were great, but as an overall meal, it was fine. I had a fish dish, and the piece of fish was so uneven, it was cooked on one side, and raw on the other. I as a cook basically will NEVER send anything back (gotta help your own kind) but I was so full, I didn't bother eating it. Then the waiter "kindly" told me that him and the chef agreed with me that the fish was undercooked. I'm "glad" that they agreed...

I can't explain why, but I've been there 3 times, and have actually never understood why this place is so highly regarded. It's not bad, but it's not worth the money.

When you go in, check out the curriculum, and make sure you find the information relevant and interesting. See if you will be able to trail at restaurants in the FOH, or you can just do it yourself. Call anywhere and tell them you are a student in a management program and would like to trail with your GM for a few days... You may also want to be a server at a place you find interesting. Most places probably won't hire you as a GM straight out of school. Besides there is no education like the one you will receive once you begin working. I went through school, and honestly found the work "easy" then got to work and realized I knew less than zero.

You will get out of Culinary school what you want to. The information is great if you wish to take what they are giving you. The schools now are FULL of students, a large amount making career changes. A majority of these students I believe watch to much of the food network and think they will graduate school and make $9 million a year, so they don't take their education seriously. This leads to a portion of the classes with people who don't care, which should have ZERO effect on you if you are serious about what you want to do. I graduated from ICE in 2002 and have been working in fine dining kitchens ever since. my class was almost completely full of people uninterested in being in that classroom. Completely irrelevant to me, I studied, paid attention, did my work and disregarded what the others were doing, and I guarantee you that most of them are not working in any type of food related job today. ICE, like EVERY other culinary school (famed CIA included) are money machines now. They accept everyone (CIA has more strict guidelines for acceptance) who wants to pay the money. So go in and get your money's worth...

Try reading culinary artistry. It supplies you with seasonal produce and proteins, along with what spices/flavors wise are compatable. Nice book.

Take a square of foil, put a drop of oil, salt and pepper and wrap the beet, one in a piece of foil. Then in your roasting pan, put a layer of kosher salt down and put the beets on top. this conducts the heat more evenly. Roast at 250 or 275 nice and slow until a pairing knife inserts easily. Best beets you'll ever eat. take your scraps chop them up and put into a blender with some oil and red wine vinegar, puree quickly and leave chunky. great vinaigrette or sauce for anything.

"technically" quality is supposed to go: carnoroli, arborio, nano. At work we used arborio until a few months ago when we switched to carnoroli. I still prefer the arborio however.

Buy a stone. Those electric sharpeners are terrible for your knives.

This time I think you may have missed out not getting the tasting menu, even though most people enjoy making their own. I've only been once, but I would really like to go back and get the tasting again. Although I think this place benefits from the seasons and would like to go in the summer months when I prefer the available produce. Where I work, we don't really "practice" classical French cooking, just certain techniques like tender veg. I've come across many chefs who do this. Most recently at Cafe Gray. I'm with you though, I'd prefer a little bite. Not necessarily raw, but crisp tender. This eating "tour" you are doing is almost more valuable than some of the school education you are receiving. You are very lucky and your parents are quite wise to let you and help you out with this aspect of your education. Enjoy and keep them coming, especially for those of us who can't do it now...

Your concerns regarding courses piled on top of each other and people chosing their own items was a large concern when Craft first opened. It was written about in the Times at that point and was actually addressed by Craft. It's different now than it was then. The whole thing with this restaurant is for you to decide what you are going to eat when. You could have asked for certain things to be brought out at different points as to not have that many entrees on the table at the same time. My wife and I actually got the tasting menu there. And most people think we are nuts for doing so because the menu is your own tasting menu waiting to happen. Although I forget the number of courses served, they send out a protein and 2 sides, which I felt were "paired" by the kitchen. It was fantastic and one of the best meals I've had. Also, regarding the brussel sprouts arriving with virtually no texture, I believe this was done intentionally. Where I work, we follow French technique. Which many times will cook vegetables very tender, and it's sometimes a difficult format to get used to since we today are mostly used to eating vegetables with crunch. I personally find them to be more appetizing with a bit of texture to them, but my bosses don't agree. And it's their preference not mine... Again, keep these coming. I haven't been able to get out much in these days due to lack of time, and more importantly lack of funds (we all know how great cook's salaries can be).