Eric_Malson
-
Posts
362 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Store
Help Articles
Posts posted by Eric_Malson
-
-
I'd be curious to hear how many people actually really like Illy. I suspect many people think they're supposed to like Illy because he's supposed to be the big espresso guru, but I run into a surprizing number of people who don't like it.
Coming in on this discussion a little late.... I'm just happy to hear I'm not the only coffee fiend out there that hates Illy. And I really do hate it--if i see that a place serves Illy, I'll either go somewhere else or skip the espresso altogether.
As for the price factor....$395 worth of coffee in a year???? Maybe it's somehow a deal for a family of four coffee-drinkers..... Being perpetually single, I make myself a double shot every morning, and that's usually it for the rest of the day--in coffee-purchasing terms, this means that I spend just about $10 a month on coffee beans, or somewhere in the neighborhood of $120 a year. So unless a) you drink a LOT of espresso every day, b) you have a LOT of espresso drinkers in your house, or c) Illy pods really do stockpile well and you just love Illy coffee, that sort of an agreement sounds like a hardship.
I've got the Rancilio Silvia/Rocky combo thanks, in large to part, to slkinsey and I have to say I love it.
Since Richard Kilgore is already planning to buy a Rocky grinder, I'd say he should just get the Rancilio Silvia. At $450, he'll still be saving $120 in initial financial commitment, which is enough for a years supply of coffee that actually tastes good.
-
First, the disclaimer: I have never been to Andalucía, although I hope to remedy that in the very near future.
Still, I have a particularly good series of Spanish guide books (that is, books printed in Spain, in Spanish, for other Spaniards) that have never steered me wrong yet. Unfortunately, I do not own the one that covers Sevilla, and the one for Granada doesn't mention any one place that sounds especially exciting, food-wise. However, if you're driving, it sounds like stops in Baeza and Úbeda could be especially worth your while.
Baeza has a restaurant I've read about in more than one reliable source, and it is, by all reports, outstanding: Casa Juanito (Paseo Arca del Agua, s/n; Tel: 953 74 74 23 24, Closed Sun. eves. and Mon. eves.). "My Spaniards" say it has "the perfect team to create one of the best culinary options of our country", and, although expensive, has one of the best quality-to-price ratios in Spain. Some of the dishes it cites: alcachofas Luísa, paté de perdiz al aceite Viana, patatas a lo pobre con lomo de orza, bacalao estilo Baeza, pichón a la manera de mi madre, and, for dessert, gachas and empanadillas de cabello de ángel.
Úbeda sounds like quite the town for eating, from the more relaxed Gallo Rojo, El Seco and Mesón Gabino to the VERY interesting-sounding Museo Agrícola-Mesón Barbacoa. "My Spaniards" once again call it "an institution of good eating in Úbeda, while being one of the most surprising museums you can see in Spain." Try and find out more about this place--I assure you my information suggests that it's worthwhile.... personally, I'd go there this weekend if I could.
-
Are any of these places worth a special trip to Astoria?
Frankly, I consider Uncle George's worth making a special trip to Astoria from Manhattan. Maybe it's not as good as it used to be--wouldn't know since I went there for the first time only a couple of years ago--but I have been unfailingly delighted with their barbecued pork, their lamb shank with orzo, their stuffed grape leaves, and the combination tzatziki/skordalia/taramasalata plate. And the price is certainly right.
-
Reading posts from New Yorkers talking about "Mexican food" is too damn funny. Keep it up.
Sort of like Texans talking about politics?
Sorry. Cheap shot that I couldn't resist.
Gee, I was just thinking how funny it was to equate "TexMex" with actual Mexican food!
-
I remember reading this great post you wrote where you listed all the typical dishes of Portugal and thinking "Wow - this guy didn't miss a beat!", as I so agreed with you.
So, whether I come to New York or you come here, I thinik we can safely say we're assured of a good meal, no? :)
Being a musician, I make it my business to miss as few beats as possible, especially when it comes to food!
And yes, I know a few joints in both places que têm boa cozinha--and in these instances, I'm always happy to share!
-
I hate to admit this, but in four years of living in Lisboa, I never went to Trafaria for a meal. And as far as pure environmental aesthetics go, I would say that a trip to Trafaria would likely be even more pleasant than a trip to Cacilhas. And with the promise of Pastéis de Belém upon ones return....well, I think that solidly tips the balances in Trafaria's favor! Still, I have a great fondness for A Cabrita....I think it's well worth a trip.
Miguel, I'm tempted to schedule a trip to Portugal just so I could snag a meal or two in your company! I love your line about
....the Great Sardine Wait has already started and we're all getting frisky!
-
We'll be there in early October... will grilled sardines be readily available ???
Unfortunately for you, the REALLY great time for grilled sardines is the month of June, when it seems that everyone is grilling sardines almost everywhere in Lisbon in honor of the Festa de Santo António. Walks through the Alfama in June are wonderful for many reasons, not the least of them being the aroma of grilling sardines permeating the entire neighborhood.....tramping up and down the stone steps and alleyways, one is constantly happening upon makeshift grills and handfuls of tables offering grilled sardines anywhere there is enough space.
But that's only in June. Personally, in October I would suggest my second-favorite grilled sardine experience, which is: take the ferry to Cacilhas (these leave from Praça do Comércio or Cais do Sodré), head up the next street away from the water from the ferry landing, but parallel, past the really touristy, multi-language menu joints and look for A Cabrita on your left. Hmm....come to think of it, I actually can't remember if sardinhas are still in season in October (Miguel??), but if they are, they have the best sardinhas assadas I ever had in a sit-down restaurant. On weekends (used to be Sundays, but my last trip back there it was Saturdays), they have a killer bacalhau com natas (one of my favorite ways to eat bacalhau, soaked and shredded, then made into a gratin with potatoes, onions and cream, and baked in the oven), good Sopa alentejana (the bread-garlic-poached egg-cilantro soup), and great grilled chocos (cuttlefish). They used to be closed on Thursdays. A comfortable little family-run place, and inexpensive.
-
"Gotch," grape soda and scotch. My brother invented this drink when we were in high school and just didn't know any better.
So, by the same logic, would cranberry juice and scotch be "crotch"?
The possibilities are endless.....Captain Morgan's Spiced Rum, scotch and cranberry: "funky crotch".
Maybe add a little Stilton for "cheesy, funky crotch"....
(full disclosure: I must properly attribute the above to the brilliant wit of slkinsey)
-
Personally, I'd be grateful if you posted your non-tomato egg curry recipes.... that's the style I like and don't happen to have any recipes for it!
-
Just had dinner this evening with a friend at the GS on 9th Ave. @ 50th St. (this friend pointed out that the red letters above the facade say "L & M Grand Sichuan", which I had never noticed before...odd) and, thanks to this thread, tried some things I hadn't tried before.
Daniel, thank you for bringing up the sliced fish and sour cabbage soup....ordered it for the first time tonight and it was delicious. Lovely flavor. Also ordered my standard sliced pork with fresh garlic sauce cold appetizer (it's gotten to the point here if I don't order it right away, they ask if I want it!) and the Sichuan wontons in red oil--these are really outstanding.
This was followed by too many main dishes for two normal people (but when one of them is me....well, let's just say we managed to finish them with no problem): first, the spicy and sour squid (from the "Mao's home cooking" section of the menu....and who was recommending this earlier in this thread? Pan, maybe? I just can't look through all those posts again). I hadn't had this dish in AGES and had forgotten how good it is. It was spicy! It was sour! It was delicious! Also got the dry sauteed string beans with minced pork--a frequently-ordered dish for me, and it was the usual excellent. The third main dish another first-time try for me: the Chong Qing style fresh chicken. It is a rather silly looking dish with ALL those dried red chili peppers (and it does seem a bit like a half cup of chicken buried in three cups of red peppers), but it was tasty. The waitress delivered it to the table, intoning "Hot...spicy!" but in the end, it's actually not as spicy as several other dishes on the menu I can think of.
Another outstanding meal here, and I'm looking forward to going back on Friday with slkinsey and bergerka!
Edited for spelling
-
A question for Pedro or Paco (or indeed anyone acquainted with this place)....
A Spanish conductor I recently worked with recommended Casa Paco (in Puerta Cerrada, near the Plaza Mayor) in the highest terms (particularly the solomillo).
Of course, I trust him, but I'm curious....any experiences?
-
I know it's a somewhat of a tourist trap (a tourist trap with delicious food!), but in Segovia, I had an excellent meal at Mesón de Cándido. It's easy to find, as it nestles up against one the walls of the aqueduct.
The cochinillo asado (roast suckling pig), although a house specialty, was pretty good but no great (almost all suckling pig I had in Portugal was better). They make a big show of cutting it with the side of a plate to prove its tenderness.
The real star of the meal, and for me the one must-have dish here, was the dish judiones de la Granja con oreja y pie de cerdo--a truly wonderful stew of large white beans, pig's ears and feet, chorizo, paprika, garlic, etc.
-
Dude, they must have dumbed it down because you ordered takeout... or maybe they know Eric Malson and me enough by now to know that we like things really spicy. Because, let me tell you, that's the hottest thing I've ever had from their menu.
Can't wait for the day I walk in there with you two! It's hard to get anything very spicy when it's being delivered. I think they need to see in your eyes that you want it as spicy as they're willing to make it.
Yea, well... let me know when you're usually free. We're there at least 3 times a month, if not more frequently.
Um, that would be you, Sam.
I'm there more like 2-3 times a week.
-
The place in Yonkers is:
Ya Hala Restaurant
326 S. Broadway
914-476-4200
Everything I've had has been pretty spectacular. Excellent standards--hummos (with whole chickpeas mixed in), baba ganouj, tabbouleh. They even have labneh (the sort-of cream cheese made by draining the whey off yogurt), though it's not on the menu. It's served with a pool of olive oil on a plate with some slices of cheese and tomato. Okay, I concede the pitas are better at Moustache, since they're fresh and hot there.
Ya Hala also has the best falafel I've had in NY (second only to....you guessed it)--light, the ground bean mixture not too green (this is a matter of taste), and of course freshly fried to order. One of my other starter faves, moojadara (a mixture of lentils and rice with crispy fried onions) is also excellent.
The shawarma is beautifully seasoned, and I can't imagine it being much better. Same goes for the kefta kebab. There are daily specials, too, usually roasts or simmered dishes involving lamb (these tend to sell out, so get there early).
Also not on the menu is fattoosh, the salad of lettuce, tomato, onions (and cucumber? Can't remember) and pieces of toasted pita tossed in some sort of vinaigrette. I don't know how they season it, but it's amazing....I always eat multiple plates of this, and I HATE salad! (If you ask the owner and you've ordered more than one entree, he'll usually just take the salad that would normally come with the entrees and put it into a separate bowl and make fattoosh out of it. Believe me, it's worth requesting!)
I'm beginning to sound like a shill here, but....so be it. Even the baklava is several cuts above the ordinary. There are always several different kinds from which to choose, along with other pastries on display in the case by the kitchen. Everything I've tried has been excellent. I can't tell you how many times I've ordered baklava after a Middle Eastern meal and had it be just plain blah or even--how do they accomplish this?--chalky. Not here.
It's quite informal....lots of families here. And considering the high quality, unbelievably cheap.
-
Interesting....I, too, went to Moustache in the West Village for the very first time a couple of weeks ago, after it had been highly recommended to me several times from different sources. And my experience was....rather different.
For really cheap food, it's pretty good.
The pitas, I have to say, were outstanding--the best part of the meal, by far. The spinach and chick pea salad was also quite nice. For me, the hummos was mediocre at best, as was everything else I tried--the leg of lamb sandwich, the merguez sandwich, falafel, other salads. The baby lamb lamb ribs looked very good--I wish I had ordered them--but I was not offered a taste. They didn't look good enough to get me to go back, however.
I have to admit...I'm spoiled. I lived near a hole-in-the-wall mom-and-pop Lebanese restaurant in Cleveland that was (is) the most amazing Middle Eastern restaurant in which I have eaten to date. Nothing I have tried anywhere else comes close, with the sole exception of a joint in Yonkers (not really feasible for city-dwellers without a car, unfortunately....). And it's probably not even possible for a family-run Middle Eastern place to make it, financially, in a high-rent area like Manhattan (and family-run seems to be the common denominator of all the Middle Eastern restaurants I've tried that serve food I think of as good).
It's a shame about Moustache.....I really wanted to like it.
-
Carlovski, what's lobscouse?
It's basically a simple meat stew, food for the poor. See here.
Looks good!
Are Oxo cubes a type of bouillon?
Yes, that's exactly what they are.
-
Pasteis de Nata are these pastries made from a closely guarded recipe-- they are in a deep little tartlet shell, the pastry is very buttery flaky pastry (sort of a cross between puff pastry and filo) and filled with an extremely rich eggy custard.
Not to be pedantic, but pastéis de nata are standard pastries made throughout the country, the basic recipe for which is general knowledge (at least in Portugal). What is unique to Belém is a special type of pastel de nata called Pastéis de Belém. These are truly extraordinary, sort of like a wonderful crème brulée in a flaky tart shell.
They say "write about what you know", so here are some off the top of my head from Portugal and northern Spain....
Lisbon -- Bife à Marrrare: Steak in a style of cream sauce particular to Lisbon.
Sintra -- Travesseiros and quiejadas: Pastries at the famous pastelería Piriquita.
Mafra -- Pão com chouriço: Bread rolls baked with slices of sausage inside. Pão de Mafra (bread baked the local way) is quite famous.
Figueira da Foz -- Frango na Púcara: A chicken stewed in a special covered clay pot with ham, tomato, onions, garlic, butter, mustard, white wine, Port wine, and brandy.
Coimbra -- Chanfana: A stew of lamb or kid goat and red wine.
Mealhada -- Leitão: Roast suckling pig! Best anywhere, including any I tried in Spain.
Viseu -- Rancho à Modo de Viseu: A thick stew of ziti-shaped pasta, chickpeas, chicken, beef, pork ribs, fat bacon, chouriço, potatoes, carrots, and cabbage.
Alentejo (not so much a city as a region) -- Açorda alentajana: The famous soup of bread, garlic, cilantro, poached egg and olive oil.
Ensopado de borrego: A sort-of soup with big chunks of lamb and not much broth.
Sopa de cação: A soup made from a small, domestic shark.
Viana do Alentejo -- Bolos folhados: Round, multi-layered pastries (simple in concept, yet hard to describe somehow).
Beja -- Emapadas de galinha: Small, flaky-pastry pies filled with creamed chicken.
Almeirím -- Sopa de pedra: "Stone soup"--a thick soup of red beans, chouriço, bacon and potato.
Aveiro -- Ovos moles: A sweetened egg yolk candy.
Porto -- Tripas à modo de Porto: Tripe!
Ponte de Lima -- Sarrabulho: Rice cooked with pork, liver and pig's blood.
Viana do Castelo -- Rojões: Chunks of pork cooked with garlic, white wine, paprika, bay leaf, bacon, lard, olive oil, cumin and potatoes, often served with sarrabulho.
Vila Real -- Covilhetes: Small pastry tarts filled with seasoned ground meat, each one topped with pretty pastry "crown".
Mirandela -- Posta à Mirandesa: A special cut of beef filet cooked in a clay pot. I could never get anyone to tell me how it's made, but you can bet there's garlic, bay leaf, and lard involved!
Monção -- Cabrito assado à modo de Monção: Kid goat that has been stuffed, larded, trussed and roasted on a rack in a wood oven in such a way that while roasting it drips into a clay pot in which rice is cooking with pieces of beef, ham, bacon, onion and saffron (and, of course, lard).
Madeira (Island) -- Espetada: Chunks of beef skewered on bay laurel sticks, lightly seasoned with salt and coated with chopped garlic and pieces of fresh bay leaf, grilled over a fire of charcoal and bay laurel wood.
Sopa de tomate e cebola: Tomato and onion soup, fortified with chunks of dry bread and a poached egg.
And in Spain.....
Segovia -- Cochinillo assado: Roast suckling pig....here they make a show of how tender it is by cutting with the side of a plate. Still not as good as in Mealhada. Also Judiones de la Granja con oreja y pie de cerdo: A stew of of large white beans with pig's ear and pig's feet, along with the usual bacon, chorizo, onion, paprika and garlic.
Galicia (again not so much as a city, but an area) -- Pulpo a la gallega: Tender octopus served in slices on a wooden plate, sprinkled with paprika and olive oil.
Caldo gallego: Thick soup of white beans, greens and pork hocks.
Pimientos de Padrón: Tiny, succulent green peppers fried briefly in olive oil.
Potes -- Cocido lebaniego: A stew of tiny chickpeas native to the area, fresh and cured meats, served rather like pot-au-feu. Also Cocido montañés, a hearty mountain stew of large white beans, sausages and game meats. A cousin to fabada asturiana.
And of course, there's Asturias....
Cudillero -- Besugo a la espalda: A lightly cured fish dish. Angulas: Baby eels!
Luarca -- Caldereta de Luarca: A very rich fish and seafood stew.
Gijón -- Chopa a la sidra: Sea bream cooked in cider.
Oviedo -- Carbayones: Flaky pastry filled with ground almonds and egg. Solomillo al Cabrales: Steak with sauce made with Cabrales cheese.
Grado -- Cachopo: Veal scallops stuffed with ham, aspargus and mushrooms, breaded then fried, and served in a casserole with a light sauce.
Salas -- Carajitos del professor: Not quite what the literal translation would suggest....a hazelnut and egg pastry.
Pola de Laviana -- Cordero a la estaca: Spit-roasted lamb.
And of course, fabada asturiana throughout the province.
-
IMHO no better than what I've had at Royal Siam (somewhere on 9th or 10th Ave in the 40's IIRC - there are two but this is the one in the 40's on the east side of the street).
Funny, I walked past that place just last week (I believe it's on 10th Ave., between 42nd and 43rd Sts.), and remarked to whomever I was walking with that that was one of the many utterly mediocre Thai restaurants in this town. I haven't been in almost 10 years, but the meal I had was so utterly generic I never considered going back. This could have changed in the intervening time.
As it appears the food at Pam may have done....I'm getting the idea that their food has improved in the last year or so. When was your last visit?
-
They do deliver, but it's not clear how far. My take-out menu says: "Free delivery (Minimum $10.00 within 5 blocks)". If you pay 'em, will they deliver 7 blocks away??
It's not exactly loaded with atmosphere, but at least the lighting is not "bare-flourescent-bulb" harsh like Sripraphai.
I have to say I enjoyed my meal at Pam more than the one (and only one, so far) I had at Sripraphai, but I didn't have any of the same dishes--I happened to order dishes I ended up liking better at Pam.
So Sam and Kathleen, I'm obviously ready to go back at the drop of a hat....name it. The fermented fish kidneys dish is essentially non-scary enough, I think we can get Kathleen to try a taste. Personally, I'm looking forward to sampling all those appetizers.
-
With the sole exception of Sripraphai, every Thai restaurant I've ever tried in NYC has left me so underwhelmed as to completely quell any desire to return. As Sripraphai is a little far for a Manhattanite to visit with any regularity, I'm happy to report this state of affairs changed for me this evening.
I had been hearing good reports about this place for several months, but it has the bad luck to be just around the corner from Grand Sichuan, so whenever I've been in the mood for spicy food and thought maybe I'd try this joint, my feet somehow just took me to Grand Sichuan instead. Luckily, tonight was different and my resolve remained firm.
We started with a couple of appetizers--one standard and one not so. A pair of fried curry puffs--flaky pastry turnovers filled with a curried potato and ground chicken mixture--were beautifully done, accompanied by a nice little dish of cucumber salad. The "chive dumplings" were really extraordinary. Two cakes of dough filled with chopped chives, which were first steamed, then grilled, accompanied by a tamarind-chili dipping sauce. I've never tasted anything like these before...utterly delicious. There was also a fairly ordinary but perfectly fine tom kha kai (the hot-and-sour chicken and coconut milk soup).
I dutifully picked up a take-out menu on the way out as an aide-memoire, and wouldn't you know this next dish isn't on it, so I can't tell you what it's called! But it's the last entry (C-8) under the curry section of the menu, and is described as a curry from Southern Thailand seasoned with fermented fish kidneys. This information alone immediately clinched it as my first-choice main dish of the evening (it also says something about "hottest curry", and "only one in NYC".... something like that). When I ordered it, the very sweet waitress looked at me kind of funny and said, "You want to try THAT??" She then said, "It's non-returnable!" I must have looked quite bemused, because she then offered the information, "It's kind of stinky!" My response, naturally, was "Bring it on!" All curries can be ordered with chicken, beef or pork--we got this one with chicken. And........ it was delicious. It's very similar to jungle curry, the main difference probably being the vegetables used and the fermented fish kidneys. It was hot....but not ridiculously so (I should have asked for hotter, actually). There are several dishes at Grand Sichuan far hotter than this one. And stinky? I guess, but again, not overwhelming at all. Put it this way: any cheese that's LESS stinky than this curry I'm probably not interested in.
We also had pad kra prow, a stir-fry of beef, onion, peppers in a chili and garlic sauce--very nice. Fresh ingredients and clear textures and flavors all around.
After all this, I was still hungry (suprise, surprise), so I ordered some noodles, leaving for our waitress to choose . She brought a pad khi mao with chicken--chow fun noodles (the wide, flat rice ones) with chili, garlic and basil. It was wonderful, and the chicken pieces were done perfectly--juicy and tender. The may sound minor, but so often chicken pieces in noodle dishes like this are overcooked and dry.
No dessert for us, but for you durian fans out there, I hear you can usually get a durian dessert here.
Most dishes are under ten bucks, and this avalanche of food for two came to (with tax, before tip) under $40.
They have a good, not-just-the-norm selection of appetizers here, and a wide variety of yum (salads), including larb (also a substantial vegetarian selection). And it's BYOB.
I look forward to eating my way through the menu here!
Pam Real Thai Food
404 W. 49th St. (near 9th Ave.)
212-333-7500
Open daily until 11:00
-
How about Kona, Hawaii?
A moment of digression (although not totally, since it involves another kind of "food").....
The Portuguese find the mention of Kona coffee quite discomfiting and/or hilarious because "cona" means something quite... um... specific... in Portuguese. (Amusingly, there's a town called "Coina" near Palmela, the signs for which are constantly having their "i's" spray-painted out.
An ill-timed spasm of discretion is preventing me from offering a direct translation here.
-
Hershey, PA
Now, that's up the Hershey Highway, right?
-
Manteca, CA
Speaking of lard....
There's a string of tiny towns to the east of Coimbra in Portugal all named Venda de....(something). I can't remember all of them, but my two favorites are:
Venda de Porco (pork sale)
Venda de Banha (lard sale)
Then there are the Avelãs (north of Coimbra)--Avelãs de Caminho (road hazelnuts) and Avelãs de Cima ("upper" hazelnuts).
This area of the country has particularly colorful place names, for some reason.
-
One of my all-time favorite place names:
Gnaw Bone, Indiana
(its provenance has nothing to do with gnawing or bones, but is a corruption of the French "Norbonne")
Winesburg, Ohio (yes it's an actual town and not just a book by Sherwood Anderson)
Pão de Açúcar (or Sugarloaf Mountain), the mountain overlooking Rio de Janeiro which has that huge statue of Chirst on the cross.
Say that again?
in Food Traditions & Culture
Posted
Why, you ask? Because it's a perfectly acceptable pronunciation, that's why.
A couple of posts later, Pan quotes the Merriam-Webster online dictionary's pronunciation, which I was going to quote....what Pan doesn't state, but is clear in the entry, is that there are two correct ways of pronouncing the "a": both the "long" (ay) and the "short" (a as in ash). Hence your assertion of "untrue" is incorrect. You should check a dictionary before getting so worked up!
This seems like a good place to quote an old music school joke....
"You say Car-MEE-na and I say Car-MY-na....
You say Bu-RAY-na and I say Bu-RAH-na...
Car-meena, Car-myna
Bu-rayna, Bu-rahna
Let's call the whole thing Orff!"
Or, heard in a musical theater audition:
"You say to-MAY-to and I say to-MAY-to...."