pete ganz

You sure it wasn't hard provolone? I've never seen them with mozzarella, but maybe that's how they make them in Philly. Stuffed peppers are addictive.

I went to Taqueria Selena in Pompton Lakes for lunch today and they were closed. Are they only open for dinner??

Where in Pompton Lakes is this?

It's probably just be a coincidence, but my local Stop & Shop did not have any oxtails for sale the other day. I don't recall them ever being out before.

To avoid a slap, I'll point you to this link. They list 2 locations in NJ that offer knife sharpening services.

I have a Chef's Choice 450 manual sharpener, which seems to do the job. Is the electric that much better? I seem to remember it being something like 4 times the price.

We didn't get out as much as I would've liked this year, but the places that stood out were Mie Thai, Epernay, and Mignon. It's not a restaurant, but they don't even take song requests, so you probably wouldn't want to go anyway. Eff Shakers.

He's a good egg.

Since we are going in April, I have been researching Cozumel restaurants as well. Here is a site that seems to have helpful reviews from travelers, not from a website looking to promote any restaurant in particular. I believe the one slbunge mentioned got very good reviews.

I was only there once, but the lamb chops, lamb's tongue salad, and cheese plate were all terrific.

The book doesn't really say much. It just goes into how the guy who came up with this idea, Louis Bridges, introduced this concept for a fast food restaurant at the World's Fair in 1939. It mentions there originally being 4 stores, but doesn't say which came first.

Congrats to Lou!

I'm gonna try smoking a turkey for the first time using klink's tutorial.

I was searching for Baltimore recs and came across this thread, so I decided to check out the minibar. Wow, what a cool experience. It was the perfect place to eat if you have to go solo. The 2 chefs, Ed and Joshua, were very friendly and seemed extremely passionate about what they're doing. Some of my favorites were the chocolate truffle with foie gras and tamarind, tuna with rice mousse and rice krispies, conch fritter, clam chowder, potato mousse with vanilla and caviar, and pina colada. The only dishes that didn't work for me were the ones with trout roe...they were extremely salty (and I'm a salt freak). Maybe I just don't like trout roe. It's amazing how many dishes were that good out of the 34 little courses. Since I don't know much about wine, I had the Viognier that others mentioned, and it paired well with almost all the dishes. Like another member said, it's not something I could do all the time, but it was a truly unique experience with interesting (and very good) food.

But wouldn't stainless steel be better for holding the temp closer to 350 when you put the bird in?

I'd imagine you would want to use the heaviest substance you have available to deep fry that volume of oil. That being said, I'm pretty sure the Bayou Classic sold in Home Depot is aluminum (I bought one last year), but it worked fine. A stainless steel version of that pot would be big bucks.

They also sell big containers (3 gallon?) of peanut oil at the Depot.

153.

And don't forget that calamari is "gahlaMAHD" I think this is more Italian-American though, and not just regional. People would break your chops if you pronounced calamari correctly in my area.

Yeah, my dad is from Brooklyn and he pronounces pizza "peetz-er". Cracks me up.

Are all the tables 4 tops, or are there also really big tables that can sit like 20 people? At least you'd have a chance to talk to more people if it was a bigger table.

One of my Amish customers took me to Yoder's on Rt. 23 near New Holland. It was a basic buffet type of place with very good comfort food. The fried chicken there was probably the best I've ever had.

Thanks again Bux, since as I recall it was you who was the big proponent of Maisons de Bricourt. I'm pretty sure the autoroute speed limit is 130 km in good conditions, but absolutely no one but me paid attention to it. 90 year old guys in beat up Fiats were blowing by me. And I didn't see a cop on the highway, driving or clocking for speed, the entire week we had the car (and curiously no accidents). Just my observation.

You're obviously in a better position to judge, but it was just an impression I got after being there for 2 weeks. Thanks if it was you Pan! We also had a goat cheese, camembert, epoisses, and a great blue cheese. The sommelier recommended a dessert wine similar to a Sauternes that went perfectly with it. They were all excellent cheeses. I think it came to all of 70 Euros, although we only had main courses, cheese, and wine. Believe it or not, I got that recommendation out of the France for Dummies book. I double checked and it's not mentioned in the Red Guide. Very good simple, regional food though.

The roundabouts were great! Even though it would be nice for them to have compass directions instead of just town names, I wish we had more of them here. And yes, I certainly did multiple revolutions on a couple occasions. www.viamichelin.com saved my ass with directions. They were pretty much spot on. www.maporama.com is also very good.