ChzHead

I just wanted to post about a new place that I checked out on my last trip to Vegas. We were in the local liquor store, Lee's, and started to talk to a local about IPAs. He mentioned that there's a great bar for rare beers....The Freakin' Frog. We got directions (it's off of Maryland near the university) and we on our way. It's truly a hole in the wall and very plain. I thought that the local was pulling our leg, until I looked at the beer list. HOLY #$%! I thought that we hit the jackpot! They have plenty of beers from all over, and the menu consists of an excel spreadsheet (about 7 pages long) that's updated weekly. They had Stone's Vertical Epic, from '02, '03 and '04. If you're willing to drop some cash, you can really get some rare finds! It was too bad that I was driving, maybe next time I'll have to get someone else to drive. Has anyone else checked this place out?

Bruce, Thank you so much for shedding a little light onto this for me. I've asked a lot of people in the resteraunt biz that I know, and nobody had ever heard about a bottle of wine not being opened at the table. After a lot of thinking about my dining experience, I think that I'm now a part of crowd that thinks the best steak is made on thier own grill. But, I still intend to keep Prime and Creaksteak on the list of my 'to try' places in Vegas. THANKS!

After going to Charlie Palmer's three weeks ago, I'd try out Prime or Craftsteak. The service and food was good at Charlie Palmer's, but I don't think it was enough to bring me back. I guess that I was lucky when I had a great time at Commander's Palace. The place wasn't as crowded, and the waiter was from our hometown. Also, I find out that the sous working back in the open kitchen was from Austin too. It was a great experience for all of us, the brunch was good and the service was great. I've also heard great things about Delmonico's at the Venetain. I'm not sure what your budget is for meals. Cheers!

tanabutler, sorry I didn't get too into the description of the food.....still the whole experience with the wine there is still puzzling. For the life of me, I can't remember the wine now. It was an Italian white, dry with a hint of floral in the nose and a little oak in the taste. The taste of the wine really opened when it warmed up a bit. It wasn't the best wine that I've had, but it was something different. If I like the wine, I usually try to swipe the cork so I can log it........but the cork didn't have anything on it. I'm a big fan of a buttery chard, and I mostly drink from small vineyards in California since my business brings me out there so much. Please don't get me wrong, I really not all that difficult to please. I've had great experiences with other sommeliers, and I thought that giving the some basic parameters (like what I usually drink and to get a bottle for under $100) he could pick out something that I wouldn't have thought about......that's their job, right? Maybe by bending over he was getting a better look at my new shoes? The courses that we had weren't anything else than I already wrote. Although they also offered a olive bread that was pretty interesting too. In all our party of 5 got outta there for under $700.

Hey all! We just got back from Vegas on Monday, I just wanted to report on my visit to Charlie Palmer’s steakhouse. It was my first trip there, it was also my first trip to the Four Season’s in Vegas too. What a hotel!! IMO, it’s really different than any other hotel in Vegas……I’d love to see what they pay for flowers on a weekly basis. The hotel doesn’t have a casino, it’s true class like most other of the Four Season hotels. We were quickly wisked off to our table, the place wasn’t all the crowded for a Saturday night at 7PM. The atmosphere is dim and somewhat quiet, although there were may other tables seated. The waiter was great, and I asked to see the sommelier to talk about wine. I told the sommelier what we usually drink and asked for a suggestion. The poor guy couldn’t really see the wine menu as he was bending at the waist to get more light on the wine menu (I mean *really* bending over at the waist). Also after a little conversation, I found that he wasn’t really talking to me….but talking to himself aloud. He was saying, “this wine is good, but it’s not really the taste that you are looking for”. This happened to the next 5 wines that he pointed to on the menu! I then caught the eye of one of friends in the dinner party, and we both had to do anything we could from laughing in the poor guy’s face. I then remarked that he probably wouldn’t have to bend over so far if he had a flashlight of some sort. He said that wasn’t allowed to use one, and he kept describing wines to me that didn’t fit the taste that I was after. We finally agreed on a wine, and he disappeared to get the bottle for us. He then showed up with the bottle opened and a cork on a gold plate (strange….that’s what I thought). He then poured a bit for me, and it was OK…………but a little too cold. I then noticed that all wines were served this way at the steakhouse. The sommelier opens the bottle away from the table and tests it out to see if it meets approval, if it does he’ll serve it to the table. I’ve been to many fine restaurants, but this is the first time that I have ever seen this. If I were ordering a very expensive bottle of wine, I’d have to say that I’d be pretty upset if it was opened away from the table. The only thing that I can think of why they do this is because something is wrong with their wine cellar…..can anybody else explain this to me?? After the strange interaction with the sommelier, the food started to come out. The salad, a prawn over spinach in a mustard vinaigrette, was great! The steak was also amazing, and had a great flavor to it. The one thing that was very unexpected was the asparagus! I was served with a citrus butter that was very tasty. The waiter explained that it was a little orange juice with lemon zest on top. I thought that there was a little crack cocaine in there too……because we just couldn’t get enough! We didn’t have much room for dessert, although we managed to polish off a chocolate treat between 5 of us. The best steak I’ve ever eaten? No way. The sides and salad were very good though. It also was an experience to check out the Four Seasons. I would recommend the place, but the experience with the sommelier soured me. I just hope that it was the ‘B’ team!

Thank you all for posting pictures!! This weekend I made the brownies and also the potato bread....they both turned out awesome!! I have a question for everybody here, I don't have a food processor but want to make the croissant dough. The recipe states that I should use the food processor to mix the cold butter with the flour. Could I just use my Kitchen Aid? Or should be attempt this by hand? With cutting up the butter and mixing it with the flour? THANKS!

Dull knives are my biggest pet peeve along with a kitchen that has 100 year old cayenne pepper (or any other spice for that matter!) BTW, can anybody recommend something that's low cost to carry my knives around in? I may travel with them about 3-4 times a year. Should I invest in a knife roll? Also, has anybody come up with cool carrier for spices? All the family member's kitchens that I've cooked in have a pitful stash of old spices. Thanks!

I've been making this recipe for about 3 months now.....ever since I got the book! I divided the recipe into 3rds, for 2/3 for 2 loaves and the last 1/3 for rolls. 1/3 of the recipe makes 6 rolls (weighed out to ~3oz ea before baking). I experimented with 3 and rolled them in a cinnamon & sugar mix. I was not even prepared for what nirvana I was in store for! Here's a picture of one of my loaves and 2 of the 6 rolls. I'm up for whatever is next! Should we post these pictures on the Atkin's link? :) (edited for cheeky comment!)

Neil, I never have used whole mile in this recipe. I've only used what I had on hand, which is 1%. My sister has tried skim milk with an egg substitute, and she said it was still great. It wasn't a side by side comparison, but she mentioned that she couldn't tell the difference. ENOY!

I've been making the challah recipe quite a bit in the last 3 months or so. I've never had a problem with it rising, only when I wasn't thinking and I added the hot butter & milk mixture to the yeast mix. Oh well, live and learn. I do have to second point about adding more flour, so make sure that you have some extra on hand! I've also started making little rolls with the same recipe. They are AWESOME! eatmorepesto, maybe you could try uploading the pictures to shutterfly?

I think that this is a FABOULUS idea!! I bought the Baking with Julia book because I heard so much about it here. I agree with JFLinLA, the challah recipe is awesome....I make that about once a week now. I've also made the sweet rolls that were made from a brioche too......they were also very good. Rhea_S, I 100% agree that the Atkins people should suffer......it's they're choice! Flour POWER! Want to pick out a few recipes from each chapter? And make weekly assignments? Will you take an excuse like "My husband ate my homework?".....

OK, so I did my homework. I made some truffles with some cayenne tonight. It's got a hell of a POW on the backend......my evil side wants to share this with some un-suspecting co-workers.

Tremor, You've gotta try the calzones!! They are the best! Cheers!

Has anyone used a pepper flavor? Like cayenne? If so, what was your experince with it?

Back when I was in Milwaukee....I thought that Karl Ratche's was the most expensive restaurant in Milwaukee (or at least it had the reputation for being expensive.....). I really never thought that Milwaukee was a truffle, foie type of city (it mainly being blue collar). But then again, it's been 8 years since I've lived there. I big night for me was burger and a pitcher of beer at my college hang-out. I can still remember the Saturdays of running between breweries (Lakefront and Sprecher) for tours (sniff...sniff..) Any really awesome places to buy seafood in town? I'm sure that I'll be doing some cooking when I'm there too. Any places besides Sendik's or V-richards?

Thanks for the suggestions!! We always hit Kopps on the way home after my parents pick me up from the airport....so that was already on the list. I must admit that I've thought about having family send some custard packed in dry ice! Since I live in Texas I'm going to skip Jalepeno Loco, but thanks for the advice! Pizza Man and Vin Ferra sound great! Can anybody suggest any Italian places? We're also looking for some jazz clubs too. When I was in college, Milwaukee was pretty sparse on the live music scene.....except for the nights that we'd go and see Pat McCurty at the Celebrity Club. I did some research and found that there's a place called the Velvet room. Anybody been? Thanks!

Hi all! I'm going to be returning to the homeland for a week long visit to Milwaukee in November. It's been a while since I've been to some good dining places in Milwaukee, can anybody offer any good suggestions? The only suggestion that I've read so far is Sanford's.....which I think we'll be going to on Saturday night. Any other suggestions? Thanks!

I'm not sure what you're looking for.....but I would try a search on this site using chocolate and also looking in this forum. GOOD LUCK!

In cases like that (especially when dining alone) I've perfected giving a "thumbs up" without missing a beat, and indicate no intention of replying verbally. I'm evil. I'll sit there with my finger in the air (indicating that I have something to say) then purposefully chew slowly then find some miniscule thing to complain about or ask the server to do (ask for a straw for my water, more ice, freshly ground pepper, something). Serves them right for being so stupid. Which finger do you hold up???? The largest pet peeve that I have is when I ask for a list of beers, and I hear "We have any beer one would want....." (or something like that) I usually ask for some beer the poor server child has never heard of (because it's not Miller or bud....). Then I hear the list of beers, WHY MUST I PLAY THIS GAME?

I have to thank you all for talking me into buying Baking with Julia....this book has truely inspired me to start bread making! Anybody want my old bread machine? The recipes are too easy for a beginner like me. THANKS A BUNCH! I have to go and check on my challah bread.....I can't belive how great the recipe is! Cheers!

I'd have to agree with you about Pizza Port....I was very surpised! I loved the Cuvee de Tomme! I didn't t think that you can get beers like that brewed here in the US.....I'm happy that they proved me wrong! I also liked the New Glarus beers too, growing up in Wisconsin it's nice to see somebody from the 'motherland' win such a great award. I also liked the smoked porter from the Alaskan Brewing. I also really was surprised that I liked a watermellon beer.....I just can't remember who brewed it!

Rich, I wasn't too impressed with the Bull & bush brews....but I do have to say that I love their logo! I tasted the Man Man beer, it was OK......but nothing to write home about. I didn't get a chance to talk to the brewers from the Great Dane brewery, but I did enjoy their beers! The best one of the show was the West Brothers Up All Night Espresso Stout. A 1/2 of espresso in every pint! What was your favorite beer this year?? BTW, thanks for the pointers this year! I'm going to have to go every year now

Thanks for all of your advice Rich!! I found that the best session was the Saturday one that they gave out awards at. We were able to still get some metal winning beers then. This festival is a MUST for all people that like trying new beers!! We decided one day to taste stouts only. After 3 hours (and many ounces after) we only hit 40% of all the booths! Anybody else go?

Steve, with knowing that the percentage of cocoa butter is important.....how do I tell from El Rey 70% chips (or any other type of good chocolate), if it's got enough cocoa butter in it? Thanks!

Richard, you're right they don't carry the 350 watt model. They do have the 5qt 325 watt and the 6qt 525 watt model. Rickster, that really blows that the store by you doesn't offer the extra 'deal'. I'm in Austin and never had a problem. Cheers!