birder53

Most recipes call for equal parts of gin, campari and sweet vermouth. Since campari works well with citrus, either an orange or lemon garnish is good.

As a discerning drinker, you know that a Mojito should never be shaken. If the bartender took time with the muddling, then gave it a vigorous shake, it would be bitter, with torn bits of mint that you could spend the rest of the night picking from your teeth. ← I haven't made a Mojito in quite a while and did not realize that shaking it was all wrong. The bartender did barely shake it and then strained it into a martini glass and garnished it with mint leaves. He also shook my Negroni and then dumped the whole thing into a tall glass. It was quite a mess. At least it wasn't warm. This guy needs a weekend at Cocktails in the Country!

These are celebrities? I watched the opening of the show on Monday. That was enough. Alan Thicke, Cindy Margolis - send them back where they came from. Talk about bad TV!

Here's another vote for Duckfat. Those fries are amazing!

We've tried all the Trader Giottos' line of sauces at Trader Joe's. The Vodka Marinara is our favorite. They list sugar as an ingredient, but not corn syrup. I think it sells for about $2.50 for 26 ounces.

Here is a link to the cocktail menu at The Zig Zag Cafe in Seattle. They make great drinks and have a wonderful list. Zig Zag Cafe Most of the recipes can be found atDrinkboy

I agree that all bars should not be expected to produce cocktails. But once they present a cocktail menu, they should back it up with well trained staff who can prepare a well made, nicely balanced cocktail. It's disconcerting to order a drink from the establishment's menu and then have the bartender ask what is in the drink. When you watch someone look up the drink and then start freepouring, it rarely turns out well. A lot of bartenders don't have enough training to know how long to shake or stir a drink to get a proper chill on it. I was at a very nice bar last week that had a Mojito on their list. My sister ordered the drink. The bartender spent time with the muddling, but he gave it a half-hearted shake resulting in a warmish drink. She didn't want to send it back because she didn't want it watered down. There are bars that could increase their cocktail sales if their staff were trained on how to make a drink. They have someone who makes up their cocktail menu, why can't they bother to deliver on the promise of a good drink. The kitchen has to deliver on their menu, they should give more thought to how they prepare the people who tend bar.

One reason we didn't dine at restaurants with bar was the smoke. The other was we were used to all the wonderful BYOs around and chose to go that route instead. We decided to try out 3 West in Basking Ridge on Saturday night. My sister and her husband were stopping by and they enjoy sitting at a nice bar. We enjoyed our meal and the bar was pleasantly smoke free. We were able to call Saturday afternoon and get our choice of reservation times, which was probably due to the holidays and not the smoking ban. The place was full when we left @9:30. We told the bartender that we had never been there before because we were waiting for the smoking ban to go into effect and he laughed saying he was glad the ban was in place. Now if only the bars could produce better drinks, life would almost be perfect.

I guess as long as most customers are willing to pay for and possibly enjoy the drinks that most bars serve. it will be very difficult to convince a bar/restaurant to improve their staff and offerings. There are very few bars in the US that actually pride themselves on a well made cocktail. They have their faithful followers. The rest of us will probably continue to drink at home and be very circumspect about what we order when drinking out. It is really a shame. I believe that if enough folks were presented with well made drinks, they would expect more from bars and be willing to pay more to get something besides sweet slop.

I love Portland! Wish I had known about Oolong when I was visiting last year. The very worst and expensive cocktails we had were at Mim's Brasserie. They sounded good on paper and we were excited to see such a nice cocktail menu. The drinks were terrible. We didn't see how the bartender mixed the drinks, but they were overly sweet and poorly balanced. I didn't have a decent drink until we got to Primo in Rockland. We'll be back to Maine and to Portland - we can't seem to stay away! It will be great to know where one can get a well made drink besides mixing Manhattans in our hotel room! (We always have bitters.) Do you think Portland is ready for serious drinks or will there always be people working the bar who know nothing about the fine art of mixology? I really believe that customers would be willing to try something beyond beer, wine and vodka drinks if they were served a drink that was made with care.

Wow! So many changes so quickly. Good luck, Rosie. Thanks for bringing me here and for keeping the NJ forum on track. You will be missed.

I haven't made anything from this issue yet, but the pork dishes look really good. I've found that many of FC's recipes do not produce as much sauce as I would like, so I try to figure out a way to increase the sauce without totally ruining the recipe. I also increase the vegetables called for since we seem to like more than called for. I run the risk of overcrowding the pan and steaming/boiling instead of sauteing. Marlene, the cake looks great. Other than the problems with the buttercream, how did it taste? I'm an occassional baker, so I need to know I've got a good recipe for the rare occassions when I actually bake a cake! Has anyone else found FC to be less interesting over the last 6 months or so? I used to end up drooling as I read each new issue, but lately I haven't been very inspired by their offerings.

Well done!

Early dinner at Thai Thai this evening. We hadn't planned to eat out but ended up in the area in need of food at 5:00 PM. We were the first diners of the evening. The hostess was smiling and laughing with some of the staff when we arrived. This was a better start than our last visit. The decor has changed and the staff now wear all black rather than the Thai "costumes" that were the previous uniform. We recognized some of the staff from the previous owner's days. The food was good. We started with the crispy duck salad, which was spicier than expected. It was missing something - maybe a little more lime juice was needed? We just didn't have that "Wow!" reaction we always had for this dish. Next was chicken with Thai basil and red peppers. It was a bit dry and not as spicy as expected but still tasty. The Lard Na was my favorite - wide noodles with broccoli and pork in a brown gravy. There were four specials, two appetizers and two entrees. We weren't tempted to try them and they were certainly pricier than any specials they made available in the past. Service was more casual than under Tony's direction. When we left @ 5:45 there were only two other tables occupied. I think one take-out order was picked up and a woman came in to make a reservation for a group on Monday night. I know it was early, but I remember arriving a bit before 6:00 PM and being glad we had a reservation! That said, we will probably go back here again. It is still the best Thai food we have found in our area. We tried take-out from Thai House last month and discarded their take-out menu along with most of the food. That was too bad. They are so close to home that we could finally consider Thai take-out but the food just isn't very good. There are still more Thai restaurants around that we haven't tried yet, so the hunt continues.

I have bar envy! Let the drinks begin!!!

Thanks for the great blog! I have memories of The Heidelberg from 1976. My mother had ordered a black forest cake from them for a party. My soon to be husband and I headed up there the morning of the party to pick op the cake. We were so overwhelmed by the wonderful aromas from the bakery that we decided to have some coffee and apple strudel. What I'll never forget was the coffee. We were used to restaurants refilling a coffee cup as needed. When we asked for more coffee, they didn't top off the cup, they took away the cups we were using and brought fresh cups to the table. They also charged us for each new cup! We figured that it must be the German way. We took our cake and never went back! Thanks for the great trip through NYC. I'm very tempted to visit and eat my way through the town.

I went with the Peppergun after reading a review in Fine Cooking. It holds a lot of peppercorns, grinds a lot quickly and works well for me. It does require two hands, but I was looking for something to give me quantity quickly and it does that very well.

I enjoy a bartender who makes a great drink and makes me feel welcome. There are a lot of factors that go into each of these requirements and they vary from person to person. Bartending is not easy. I really appreciate it when I find a good one.

The jigger and my Oxo! I don't trust my free pouring skills. At least when I measure I have a basis from which to make changes. I gave the Oxo measures to friends and family at Christmas last year because they are just so wonderful!

There was a thread on Meyer Lemons some time back. I tried to find it, but my search skills are pretty bad. They are popular for lemonade. I like to use them for Aviations. Hopefully someone can find the old thread on this for you.

Try a Fifty-Fifty martini. Equal parts gin and vermouth. I like to add orange bitters and serve with a lemon twist.

We finally had dinner at Thai House in Warren last night. We arrived early, about 5:45 PM. The dining room was empty. Within 10-15 minutes, another three couples were seated and at least two take-out orders were picked up. The small dining room has two levels. I'd guess there are 15-17 tables in total. Service was fine. We started with the crispy duck salad (Yum Ped Yarng), one of our favorites at Thai Thai. This version includes pineapple, which I was hesitant about, but it didn't overwhelm the dish. There was quite a bit of duck but it wasn't crispy. Entrees were Panang Curry with chicken - not as flavorful as the version at Thai Thai called Kaeng Panang. Also ordered Kee Mao with chicken. This is a noodle dish with wide flat noodles, onion, red pepper, Thai basil and chili sauce. This was our favorite dish of the night. We had never tried the Thai Thai version of this so cannot compare. We skipped dessert and coffee - no room! When we left there were five tables occupied by five couples. Thai Thai would have been full up at 5:45! When comparing the two take-out menus, Thai Thai is $0.45 - $2.00 more expensive than Thai House, with a few exceptions where they are a bit less. I can't say for sure if the servings are larger at Thai Thai but splitting one appetizer and sharing two entrees was enough for us at both places. We will probably dine here again as well as get take-out. Thai Thai is too far a ride for take-out. Thai House is only about five minutes away. I guess I'm waiting for more reports on Thai Thai before I take the trip back up there. Especially since they will no longer take a reservation for a party of two! Thai House does not have the atmosphere of Thai Thai. The staff is not as warm as Thai Thai's under Tony's ownership. Has anyone else dined at either place recently? If so, please share your thoughts.

How about featuring one of the classics as the evening's special drink? Possibly at a discount? That might encourage some folks to give it a try. I also like the idea of half size drinks to give someone an opportunity to try something new without committing to the price or size of a regular drink. When trying new drink recipes at home, we sometimes make one and split it just to see if we really like it or not. If it's good, we move on to another round. If it wasn't a success, which happens, we haven't wasted too much liquor on the experiment. What we have found when making drinks for friends is they do not like to taste any liquor. They are used to drinking vodka. We made Bourbon Crustas for some friends who recoiled because they could actually taste the bourbon. But we also have friends who said they didn't like bourbon who now request a Bourbon Crusta when they come over. A good drink menu which you can back up with well made drinks will be a great start. We've encountered wonderful drink menus only to be rewarded with overpriced and oversweetened drinks. Just because they can put it on a menu doesn't mean the bartended knows how to make it. Chat up your customers and serve them wonderful drinks. Good luck!

Thanks for the link. A search for Rittenhouse on their site came up empty. Will I have to head to NY to find this brand?

Does anyone know if Rittenhouse is available in NJ? I haven't been able to locate any in my neck of the woods.