Fish

I went once (on someone elses' dime - they were trying to recruit me ) and it was very ordinary, except for the service, which was Eastside-horrible (you know, young, white, blonde obsequious kids with no self-confidence, no knowledge of food). I don't remember much (which says a lot), except that I wouldn't bother. They were very busy though, which makes since they don't really have any competition. Perhaps that's why they're mediocre: they don't have any competition, so why bother trying ? - S P.S. Is it obvious how little I like the Eastside ? P.P.S. Except for Chez ReallyNice and Chez Mr. Toast ! Mmm, pizza!

I can't comment on a sharpener in NYC, but you certainly won't be disappointed in Bob's work. Can you tell I'm a fan ? - S

You can ship them to him. If you send them on Monday from Seattle, he'll get them Tuesday (even using Ground service), and ship them back out on Wednesday, to get to you Thursday. Mine stay pretty good for a year or so, with regular maintenance. - S

The ones I mentioned above are pre-made. Anything else will require a wait. He showed us the basics of the process. He starts off with a large cylinder of metal, about the diameter of a soup can, with a long piece of what looks like rebar attached to it as a handle. He heats that in a furnace at about 2700 degrees, and then uses an hydraulic device to shape it. It looks like a lot of very hard work. - S

A couple of weeks ago, I went to visit Bob Kramer, of Bladesmiths. Bob is a former cook turned bladesmith, and while he can make he usual ornamental stuff most other bladesmiths seem to make, he specializes in making the most wonderful cooking knives. He also does the best sharpening work I've ever seen. I took a friend, and a trunk full of knives (My trunk was packed with about 40 or so knives - friends and coworkers). We spent a good couple of hours with Bob, mostly discussing the various knives he was making, has made, and will be making (one for me, in particular ). His work is absolutely amazing: the finished knives are works of art, but they're meant to be used. I had my current knife with me, an 8" Wusthof Grand Prix, which I love. I compared it to a 10" Euro chefs knife Bob had just finished, and the difference was quite remarkable. Despite the bigger (wider and longer) blade, the knife was lighter than mine. It was perfectly balance at the guard, and felt amazing to hold. Bob also takes more time finishing his knives than (say) Wusthof or Henckels, so he can do things like round the top of the blade. Working with Bob on the specs for my knife was also pretty cool. A 10" knife is a bit big for me, so he's going to make me a 9" blade. I also got to pick out the piece of wood (with the grain patterns I liked best) for the handle. It's truly going to be MY knife. I can't wait to get it - only 3 months to wait ! When I was there a couple of weeks ago, Bob had a couple of knives for sale (unusual, since most of his work is custom). The list he gave me then included: 10" Euro slicer @ $350 (Thomas Keller has one of these) 2 x 8" Meiji chefs knife @$310 (one with cocobola handle (spectacular) and one with an ebony handle) I'd post pictures, but my camera was stolen the next day - S P.S. My knives came back a couple of days later, so sharp they'll cut you if you look at them wrong.

Could you elaborate on the brunch? Is it buffet style or sit down? Sit down, ala carte. Examples: interesting eggs (e.g. goat cheese and herb omlette), the best French toast that exists, fruit smoothies, weekly pancake and frittata specials, etc etc etc. We just got back from a lovely brunch there. - S

I tried Glo's once and was entirely underwhelmed. Tried it again, and was even less impressed - I found the food to be thoroughly ordinary. What is it that everyone sees in that place ? Now, El Greco on Broadway, THEY serve kick-ass brunch on the weekends. Always delicious, and lacking the attitude and mega-wait at Glo's. - S

Anyone know of a source for Passionfruit cordial in the great Seattle area ? I've found it online, but I want it now, dammit - S

Hmm, so how about that Croque Monsieur from Eric Ripert's new book, which is basically a grilled cheese and lox sandwich ? The lox is clearly not going to reach 145°F - does that mean it's unsafe ? Lox (in my experience anyway) is generally eaten at room temp - I've eaten a lot of it over the years, and I don't recall it ever making me ill. - S

From a South African oenophile friend: Regarding the wine, unfortunately the South African climate is not that good for burgundy, that said we have 2 decent Pinot Noir's (Barefoot Pinot Noir and Topaz Pinot Noir - these are both produced by the Garagistes, a small group of independant winemakers who produce on a very small scale out of their garages!) In terms of the whites, try Durbanville Hills Sauvignon Blanc, Buitenverwachting SB and the Buitenverwachting Blanc de Noir (with this one the assistant winemaker accidentally blended some of the premium red with the white and the result is outstanding - not at all sweet, but nicely crisp and the strength of the red comes through very well. Not at all a typical "rose" in spite of its pinky blush colour.) For the reds, we have some outstanding Shiraz's, being Stellenzicht Shiraz Kevin Arnold (premium label) and Waterford Shiraz (from the same farm.) The other area we excell in is Bordeaux-style blends, and I can highly recommend Pre 1999 Kanonkop Paul Sauer Buitenverwachting Christine Any Thelema wines Unfortunately I'm not too clued up on the sherries. The best wine shops are: Picardi at Seef House near the Waterfront Vaughan Johnson's (they have a good selection although they do recommend items just because they have stock.) I believe that Caroline's is very good.

Yep, Di Laurenti and Sur Le Table both carry a decent range of salts. I think I saw Maldon sea salt at Pasta & Co, but I could be mistaken. Has anyone tried Trader Joe's sea salt ? - S

As one of the 3 other cooks Really Nice mentions, my advice is basically "keep it simple". Lots of dishes = lots (and lots!) of work. I "only" had 3 courses (admittedly a single French Laundry recipe is pretty complex: I'd never made anything involving as much work as those darn agnolotti) but they were enough to keep me busy for more than an entire day of cooking. Pick your recipes carefully. Read them several times, and get a good idea of what you're going to need. Plan very well, do as much as possible in advance, and plan to spend a lot of time preparing and cooking: we spent 11 hours eating and doing final preparation. Give yourself time between courses to recover. As for costs, the things which cost a lot were: truffles, lobster, caviar and beef. Use the expensive stuff in moderation, and your costs should be manageable. That said, it was an incredible experience, definitely *the* highlight of my cooking career, one which I doubt I'll ever be able to top. Go for it ! And write about it for us. One of these days we'll have to do a proper write-up of the French Laundromat meal. Stay tuned for our next effort ! - S

This place rocks. I went in over the weekend to see if they had any of the 2000 Domaine de Durban Muscat (alas, not) but they were $3/half bottle cheaper than any other place I've been to for the 2001. And the guy who runs the wine dept (the owner ?) was very nice, very knowledgeable. I'll be buying from them in the future. - S

I used to love this place. The food was very tasty and cheap. Then they changed the menu, slimming it down quite a bit. The last straw, though, was when I went on a bread-making kick a while ago and started looking into making piadina, the bread the serve. Each recipe I found had pork fat in it. So I called the restaurant and asked - sure enough, their piadina is made with pork fat. I'm not veggie, but I absolutely will not eat pork. I'd asked several times if there was any meat in any of the dishes I'd ordered (we'd order a crescione most times we went there) and had always been told there wasn't. We'd been with friends who are strict veggies who had also asked and been told that the veggie cresciones were meat free. Needless to say, I haven't set foot in the place since, which is a pity since they make a great tiramisu. - S

Egg cutter? Got that Yeah, but I know that yours doesn't work worth a damn ! - S P.S. Drink !

Looks like they're auctioning off the equipment next week. - S

That's the French Laundry lemon tart, right ? Try it with Meyer lemons while they're still in season (you still have 2 balls of dough in the freezer, right ?) - S

I made a dish loosely based on the Pommes Anna recipe in French Laundry cookbook (the recipe in the book is delicious, but I didn't have the time). Basically: Thinly slice potatoes, arrange overlapping slices in a non-stick pan brushed with clarified butter, Every few layers I added some kosher salt and pepper and a chopped fresh herb (I did a layer each of chives, rosemary and thyme). Add some more clarified butter on top, cook on top of the stove until bubbling, then bake for around 30 mins at 450. Very, very tasty. - S

I had some of the Pearl bakery's baguette a while ago, and thought it was phenomenal. Certainly the best baguette I've eaten. As for home made bread - yup, I've been doing some of that too, but as much as I love it, I don't have the energy to maintain a sourdough starter. Bigas etc I don't mind, but sourdough - too much work ! - S

I love sandwiches. And the Dahlia Bakery is serving some really tasty, interesting ones. I've been doing there for nearly a year now, maybe a couple of times a month, picking up whatever they have. Wow ! I had a turkey sandwich there a few months ago where they used their pork rub on the turkey (which was delicious) and served it with raisins, some kind of aoili and lovely greens on a delicious mini-baguette. Wow. It doesn't hurt that their bread is really tasty, either. If only 1) they had sandwiches available before 11am, so I could get one to take to work and 2) they cost a bit less than $6 Anyone else have good sandwich recommendations ? - S

I bought a loaf at the Dahlia Bakery yesterday -tiny, expensive and delicious. I really love their house loaf - you can really taste the wheatiness of the flour, but $3 for what is basically a large roll is ridiculous. I like Le Fournil's baguettes, but they don't blow me away. Amazing value for money though. The La Brea bread you get around town isn't bad, I suppose, but it also doesn't knock my socks off. So whose bread do you like best ? - S

What is the deal with Top Pot ? After hearing everyone rave about it, I went and picked up a box of doughnuts ("For my co-workers" I told myself). It may be because I'm an ignorant foreigner who knows nothing about real doughnuts, but I found them to be awful - dry, cakey and with not a lot of flavour. My SO agreed, but she's and I come from the same place so that may not be valid. It's probably a good thing we didn't like them, because Top Pot is 2 minutes from where we live, whereas Krispy Kreme (whose doughnuts we love) is practically in another state . - S P.S. Merry Xmas to those of you who celebrate

Wholefoods and Di Laurenti's are my places to go for specialty things. Wholefoods has a surprisingly wide range of stuff, from Normandy butter to truffles to exotic cheeses (and excellent wines). Their meat and fish departments are very good, too. Uwajimaya also has some goodies (not just Asian, either), and are often cheaper than other places. - S

Not that its any of my business, but out of curiosity, how does this statement reconcile with the fact that you had two courses of fish for your dinner? Do you mean that you don't eat shellfish perhaps? Whoops, silly me - poor choice of words. No shellfish (or pork) for me. Then again, given my avatar, eating any fish seems like cannibalism - S

We went to 727 Pine this evening. I hadn't read eGullet for a while so I hadn't seen all the rave reviews here. I went in expecting an over-hyped dinner, since the last reviews I'd read of the place indicated that it didn't deserve the fuss. Four of us went for dinner. It didn't get off to a great start when we had to wait just under half an hour for our (reserved) table. Sure, you can't make people leave, but still .... Others have described the menu earlier in this thread, so here's what was ordered: Amuse bouche: Just after we sat down, they brought out a piece of cured sea scallop with chives and what smelled like truffle oil. I don't eat seafood (though it was apparently very good), so they brought me a tiny, delicious fennel salad. First course: 3 of us had the smoked salmon, which was excellent. The salmon had a lovely smokey flavour, though the horseradish foam could have been a bit more assertive. The pommes maxim garnish was bloody impressive, especially since I've made something similar and it's damn difficult to do that well. The fourth person at the table had the soup (pumpkin ? squash ?) which I tasted - very good. Second course: Three of four had the Kobe beef. I really wanted to get it too, but since my SO was getting it, and it was served with mushrooms, I decided to try the monkfish. This was a big step for me: since I saw the Battle Monkfish on Iron Chef, I've thought monkfish the most revolting thing I've ever seen. But it sounded good, served with basil gnocchi, so I ordered it. Great choice - it was absolutely delicious, and IMO better than the beef (which I tasted). Very interesting flavours, and the gnocchi in particular were excellent. The beef was nice, but it just didn't do it for me. Red meat just isn't as appealing as it used to be. Dessert: No choice here: bread pudding all around. It wasn't bad at all - not the best bread pudding I've had, but tasty. Finally, with the bill, we were presented with some small chocolate mousse-ey things served on pistachio shortbread - very yummy. Off to he gym with me tomorrow ! All in all, a very good meal. For 25 bucks, it was a good deal. The wine ain't cheap (I had a glass of the recommended Chardonnay with my fish, for $9) but all in all, I'd go there again. - S (Edited to correct typos)