wingding

In many retail businesses,there are people who "have an eye".They can go to flea markets,street markets in obscure places, greenmarkets,and anywhere else,and find find great stuff,and know how to use it with style.M*rtha St#wart is the foremost example-one of her best skills is spotting great stuff, buying it,recycling it,and remarketing it as a good thing...I wouldn't generalize about all chefs,but some have this same sort of talent,whether it be in choosing and using ingredients with a sense of balance and style,or in working out the physical design and tone of their restaurants.

Addeo is my Arthur Ave. favorite-good semolina bread,more simple,basic Southern Italian stuff than the others.In Manhattan,Sullivan St. Bakery and Balthazar are my favorites-the crust on the Sullivan St. loaves is great,and the various focaccia,especially schiaciatta,cherry tomato,and carcioffa are wonderful.The walnut loaf from Balthazar is great served with some good cheeses.Blue Ribbon Bakery turns out some nice plain loaves of bread sometimes...And I miss Zito[not the same anymore],D & G,and Zampieris' on Sullivan St.,which made great,greasy slabs of onion focaccia,and anise biscuits, which perfumed my apartment in the wee hours of the morning as they baked...

Uni is difficult,because it is rarely consistent.I have eaten many samples from those little wooden boxes,and it ranges from the sublime to the blech,even within one box.If straight uni is a little much for you,try an aoili made with uni,or the southern Italian dish [served at Esca in N.Y.]of linguini with garlic and uni.

I was taken to a belated birthday dinner at JG a few days ago,and chose the summer tasting menu.Two dishes in particular,very summery and light,were well worth remembering;peekytoe crab with watermelon sorbet,wasabi,and a basil sauce...roasted corn ravioli,with lots of tiny tomatoes,more basil,more corn.They sent us all of the desserts,which was pretty crazy-4 different themes;apricot,cherry,exotic fruits,and chocolate[i think]They were all beautifully made and crafted,but I was disappointed that the chef didn't make more use of the best fresh fruits of the summer.The room and the view are unique,and it was a lovely evening.

I may be saying something[more simply]that has been said previously,but who do you all think was doing the cooking in the homes of the wealthy centuries ago?Dan Barber?I'd think that the house cooks brought their way of cooking with them,and having access to better shopping and better kitchens,refined some of these dishes

Good news on the Gelato scene;John Snyder,the orginal ice cream maker at Ciao Bella,has opened his own place,il Laboratorio del Gelato,at 95 Orchard St.He's serving 12 flavors a day,made from real fruit,nuts,and chocolate.I tried a few flavors today,and the lemon sorbetti was particularily outstanding,and the other flavors were also quite good.I have no affiliation with the place,just want to support people who make the real thing...

The fish sauce product that's made commercially is called colatura.There is a restaurant in Pompei called Il Principe,where they are attempting to revive ancient Roman dishes,and are using garum...I'm wandering afar from India,aren't I....

Last year,I visited a family, in Naples,Italy.The hostess was a well known cook in the city,and I asked her about garum.She showed me a crock of small fish,layered in a crock with salt,with a spigot to eventually draw out the macerated liquid-a modern form of garum.I also visited the town of Cetara,on the Amalfi coast,where colatura,a refined form of garum is still made commercially-it is used in local fish and pasta dishes,and I liked it.It is quite similar to Thai fish sauce.

Suvir;Kaluystans' stocks dried barberries-I've used them in rice pudding.Tamarind and pomegranate molasses are my favorite souring agents.I'm curious about kokum{mangosteen?],and still have the smoked kodampoli,also called fish tamarind,that I purchased in Cochin-I've used it in fish curries,and had a simple dish of fish and yams cooked with it while in southern India...

One of the most interesting things that I remember seeing in a New Dehli market was an oil press-where mustard oil was pressed to order for customers.It was an old contraption;the oil was put into a plastic bag,and the husks and waste came out in a flat sheet,resembling kelp.

In an ideal world,a good kitchen will consistently attempt to produce great food for Bill Gr*mes or Joe Shmoe.In reality,the hysteria and pressure that goes on behind the scenes during the reviewing process is comical at best.Whether the extra effort expended produces better results is questionable,but anyone who doesn't believe that a huge amount of extra effort goes into pleasing recognized critics is naive.I agree that we don't have very interesting writers these days.

There is a long,involved recipe for short ribs in the French Laundry cookbook-it will teach you a lot in the process,and is wonderful.I used it last Christmas,and it was a long process,but I'd never made them before,but it was a great learning experience...

There are a lot of wonderful fish 'curries' from the coasts of southern India-fish simmered in coconut milk,tamarind,etc.Unfortunately,they aren't served often enough in the western world...they are delicious.Also never seen here,is Bombay duck..

Conceptually,I love the idea of a group of qualified[!],anonymous reviewers.Maybe the kitchen,and waitstaff would treat every customer as a potential reviewer,and treat their experience accordingly.That would be exciting...Also different points of view about the dining experience should be,which vary some from one writer to another,would be more beneficial to diners.

Shucking green peas and eating them- a relaxing activity,and each pod is a little different.Edamame are also edifying in this way.

You can get a good version of Newport steak from Pinos' Butcher,on Sullivan St.He used to work with J. Ubaldi.I haven't done a side by side cook-off with the Florence Mkt. version,but they are both inexpensive,easy to cook,and delicious.

I made my own version of aSouthern Indian molee yesterday,using the smoked dried mangosteen[kodampoli],that I'd brought back from India.Sauteed some onions,ginger and garlic,fresh chilies;added tomatos,turmeric,salt,and chili powder,and let it simmer a bit before adding coconut milk,curry leaf,and then,some wonderful fresh cod from the greenmarket.I simmered this gently,until the fish was cooked,then served with rice and fresh cilantro and more diced chilies.....and it had the smoky taste of the kodampoli,and was quite memorable,wonderful,and tasty....

Suvir;I think that kulfi made with reduced heavy cream would have an overly fatty tasteand mouth feel.Reduced,it might become very a thick ,cloying paste.I don't like ice creams made solely with heavy cream for the same reason-they leave a greasy feel in my mouth...

Poi!!!When I was way young[er],Iremember reading' Dennis the Menace Goes toHawaii',and noticing his poi experience,which I became obsessed with.My family went to the '64 Worlds Fair,and lo and behold,in the Hawaii pavillion,there was canned poi for sale...I begged,and we bought it.It was horrid...On the real side,those taro cakes served with dim sum can be kinda good-they are browned,and have little bits of pork speckled in..

This isn't as high class,but I don't care....I've eaten at Jean Georges and Bouley,,blah,blah,and liked them fine enough,but going to the Jerk Center[!],in Kingston,Jamaica,and getting piles of great jerk chicken and pork on butcher paper,with spongy white hardo bread to blot out the heat,and cold Red Stripes was a peak experience....no frills,but I never wanted the meal to end.

The controversies about her writing style aside...she's pretty on the mark about this place...I've dined there,and the service and paint job Are kind of hideous.Backseat cooking and decorating is easy,..but hate is an awfully strong word.

Lobster roll at Pearl Oyster Bar....Pretzel Croissant at City Bakery....Fava Beans,Pecorino,and Walnut pesto at Gramercy Tavern....Duck Soup and Halo Halo at New Viet Huong,on Mulberry St.,the Burger and the jukebox at the Corner Bistro

Most,if not all ,of the gelati in N.Y. are probably made with redi- made mixes,with lots of stabilizer and artificial crap,which gives them a funny aftertaste.The real thing is more expensive to make,and has to be churned daily.

I make both,and like both kinds;there are variations from place to place,but in general...ice cream has a higher percentage of butterfat[milk,cream,eggs],and more air pumped into it in the churning process.Artisinal gelato has more milk in proportion to eggs and cream,sometimes uses other sugars[glucose and dextrose powder for instance]to obtain a softer texture,and has less air pumped into it.I think that a typical gelato base can carry flavors more strongly than ice cream,and once turned it is usually held at a higher temperature than ice cream,keeping it very creamy.The extra eggs and cream give ice cream a mouth feel that many people prefer,and it feels colder .Within these two categories are many variations...

Blackcurrants;I've recently found out that local east coast farmers are destroying their plants because blackcurrants can carry disease that has been declared illegal....along with bitter almonds and wild quince,a disappearing species....good blackcurrants have a wonderful,musky flavor.