Florida

I'm pretty sure TJ's sells this, though I will admit I have never used it.

In the book Kokonas, somewhat jokingly, indicates that Alinea should have been named FUCT, as in Fuck You Charlie Trotter. While I realize this was probably just retrospective, the book did just come out and there's not a whole lot of love for Trotter in it.

There was an article in Red Eye on Wednesday where Kokonas indicated they'd start sending e-mails soon, in groups of 500 per hour. Unfortunately I can't locate the link. So has anyone received an e-mail?

Does it seem any more ridiculous to you than past seasons of Top Chef Masters? Incidentally, today's inbox brings the news that New York's Danyelle Freeman (a/k/a/ Restaurant Girl) will be a guest judge on "several episodes". To me, yes, though I will admit I did not watch TCM2 at all and stopped watching TCM1 about 1/2 way through. For some reason, the challenges of regular TC don't bother me in the least, yet they seem so contrived and artificial on TCM. I guess it really doesn't matter as I won't be watching.

From the commercials they had been showing incessantly during Top Chef, Top Chef Masters looks absolutely horrid. I can't imagine why any self-respecting chef would participate in this ridiculous show. Who knows, maybe we’ll all be treated to Bravo’s next morally depraved show: Real Housewives of Top Chefs.

Picked up a New Glarus Smoked Rye Ale while I was in Wisconsin last week. The smoke on this one is very pronounced and is in no way subtle, but the interesting part comes from the slight spiciness of the rye. Interesting beer, though working through a four pack of these will be a challenge.

I perceived this differently and it is actually one of the reasons I think Blais beat out Isabella. I don't think the first batch of ice cream was unservable. But rather, it just didn't work the way Blais had intended it to. Blais took the feedback and was able to re-work the ice cream for the next round of judges while still running his kitchen and putting out the other plates. For someone to re-work their dish during service based off of feeback received just minutes before takes a lot of guts and a lot of skill and I'll give credit to Blais for that. I'll also give credit to Spike for giving Blais feedback and keeping him centered. If it wasn't for him, I'm not so sure Blais would have come out on top.

I agree. I feel the increase in interest concerning cooking is mostly superficial. Most people don’t cook nor do they even care to.

I would say price and return on investment. Is the end product really so much better that it would justify the purchase of one of these new ovens? I doubt it. Furthermore, I suspect most high end consumers are purchasing form over function. Let’s face it, this is America. If there was a market for these ovens, there would be someone selling them. I simply can’t imagine Hobart or Viking (or whomever) hasn’t researched the viability of such products in the marketplace.

I'm wondering how many return units they had in stock when they decided to run this offer? They would probably have to ship out new units if they oversold on the reconditioned ones, no? This is the e-mail I received yesterday:

1) Sushi: it's much easier to get what I want at a restaurant. 2) I'm in the deep frying crowd as well. Just too much of a pain in the ass. 3) Normal condiments. Can I make mayo? Yes, but when you need less than 1 tablespoon for the one turkey sandwich I have maybe once a month, what is the point?

I used to work for Houston's (Hillstone Restaurant Group, the same people who own Bandera) and I can't imagine they'd be willing to accomodate a large group. They're quite the dicks about not taking reservations. Plus their food is fairly generic. What about Graham Elliot? The food is upscale yet playful - something that I imagine teenage cooks might get a kick out of. I know this is probably on the very high side of your price point, but I also know that Graham Elliot does some charity work. Maybe if you were to call and explain your situation, they might be able to work with you on a modified tasting menu. I like the idea of Avec as well, though I personally couldn't imagine going to a wine bar and not drinking wine. BTW, I haven't been since the fire. Do they have an open kitchen now?

As ridiculous as they are, the “challenges” are an integral part of TC. Of course they are. My point was that *at this point in the competition,* I'd prefer for there not to be such ridiculous limitations. We saw how the chefs had a chance to excel and show the food they're capable of in the "Personal History" challenges. There, the chefs were essentially left alone to cook the food that best showcased their talents, without any crazy twist. I'd like to see more of that given the title at hand. So you want a show more like Iron Chef? Might I suggest Iron Chef? TC is reality tv and the chefs know what they're getting into when they sign up for it. It's fine the way it is. Hell, I'd say it even manages to exceed the exceedingly low quality standards set for every other program on Bravo.

Virtually anything from Southern Tier. Three Floyd's Apocalypse Cow is pretty damn sweet for a DIPA.

As ridiculous as they are, the “challenges” are an integral part of TC. And last night’s was ridiculous: “Go catch some conch we planted in the ocean for you!”

There are hundreds of species of different endangered animals that are consumed in California, yet only sharkfin has been targeted. Why? Because only the Chinese, a small minority group, eat it. If it was something which the non-Chinese ate, like bluefin, there would be no such ban. If we don't want to call it racist although there's certainly a racist undercurrent that inevitably crop up about shark fin soup, then its certainly politcal posturing at its finest- the legislators get to talk up their enviornmentalism by targetings something only a minority group eat all the while ignoring more pressing, important enviornmental issuses. California has a long history of being at the forefront of environmental protection and animal welfare laws. This law only targets shark fin because that is the only intent of the law. There are other laws which affect different issues ranging from stricter auto emissions to egg-laying chickens to animal rights. I fail to see how this law targets the Chinese any more than a law banning cock-fighting targets Hispanics.

Forgot about Captain Lawrence's Smoke from the Oak series, their smoked porter aged in a variety of different barrels. edited for link

Regardless of anyone's opinion on the term "foodie" it has nothing to do with the article. Meyers uses the terms "gourmets" and "food-obessed" as well as other terms through out the article and at no point does he contend the reason why foodies suck is because of the term "foodie." Indicating this article couldn't exist without the term foodie is like saying racism only exists because of the n-word, which is absolutely risibile.

Yes, this is it. There are fanatics in every walk of life. It is of no surprise there are overly dramatic personalities in the food world. I don’t see how the term “foodie” has anything to do with it. Much like “fashonista” or “gleek” or deadhead/phishead/parrothead it’s just a term to describe a likeminded set of people and the only people I ever see get upset about it are people who probably would be considered “foodies” themselves. IMO, it is the same hypersensitivity to the term “foodie” that gives foodies their elitist label. I seriously couldn’t imagine going to a Dead show and having the fans in the parking lot get pissed off because someone called them “deadheads.” Hell gleeks even print up t-shirts that say “I’m a gleek.” If 12 year olds have more a sense of humor about their label than foodies, maybe the author is right in judging us as elitist assholes.

Stone does indeed make several variations of their smoked Porter including both a chipotle and a vanilla bean, though I don’t believe these were ever bottled. Mikkeller also makes a chipotle porter, though I am under the impression it does not have a very strong smoke flavor. I recently had Terrapin’s Hoptaneous Combustion, their smoked DIPA. It was an interesting beer, but the interplay between the smoked malts and citrus/pine hops became a bit wearing on the palate after some time.

Seriously, it's a frigin spice catalog, not the New England Journal of Medicine. So what's next up? Complaining that the financial planning advice you're gleaming from the latest LL Bean catalog just isn't up to snuff? ("It says save, but it wants me to spend!") At the end of the day Bill doesn't want to sell you "fancy salt" so buy it somewhere else. edited for grammar

Sumac I needed some for a fattoush salad I was making and the smallest bag they had at the store was 8oz. So now I have lots of sumac for which I will need to find some uses.

If I had to eat any one food, three or more time a week, every week, I would come to hate it as well. Whether this food was a delicacy or common place would not matter.

I don't think it's racist either, but think about it this way... if an old white couple in Babbo were overheard saying "African Spaghetti" about a black chef while making an "Ewww-Face" there'd be a shit storm... But it wasn't said because of the ethnicity of the person/people cooking, but because of the quality/style of the food. I was unaware “Caucasian” was synonymous with “poor quality.”

Collichio knew what he was cooking months ago. Hell, the producers of the show probably knew what Collichio was cooking months ago. Collichio knew exactly what was needed to cook his dish in terms of both ingredients and cookware. On the other hand, the Cheftestants had 8 minutes to figure out what they wanted to do and then they were sent on a scavenger hunt to find the ingredients they were looking for without the complete knowledge that what they would be looking for would even be there. We all know Collichio can cook. Let Padma do it next time. BTW, did anyone else catch the delightfully racist "Caucasian Dim Sum" commentary?