Cpalms

I'd like to add that in the case of Tuna there are so many other factors that determine the quality of the fish, not only whether its frozen or not....when the japanese buyers evaluate a tunafish they take many of the following factors into account in determining the price/ quality of tuna. For example was the fish a high fat content fish, this can vary from fish to fish within a school. Was the fish caught on hook and line, or netted, or electrocuted. Hook and line is the best if the fight time is short, netting being the worst because the fish bang into each other and bruise their flesh (typical with with those asshole yellowfin pair trawlers), was the fish bled properly and immediately after the catch then collared (head and guts removed) and put saltwater slush....the variables are endless... to properly freeze a tuna for home use it must be vacuum packed and frozen as soon as possible to ensure quality, fish prepared in this manner is quite good and will easily deceive most folks.... that being said yellowfin you caught today, grilled a steak over a hot fire tonight is is one of the most magnificent meals you can't buy.

just got the call from sonya, rescheduled for may 27,originally had feb 26(i think) .... she was reasonably flexible with the dates, she called early this afternoon and then called me back when I said I need a little time to think it over, very pleasant....

stopped by bar masa Tuesday... after just having read bourdain's report it looks like I should saved my money and had the real deal. the sushi was very good, fresh but uninspired. It was kind like the sushi you have at nobu (back when nobu had the goods) after you had his wonderful creations the sushi was anticlimatic.... one thing that pissed me off was on the menu outside bar masa said the sushi tasting was $50 and when we sat down we were informed it was $85 (a little bait and switch)...sushi tasting (16 standard pieces), beef skewers, corn fritters, a tuna roll, grapefruit granite (a highlight)and bottle of water with tip $200 a couple notes a tunas....i've spent good deal of time fishing the northeast canyons for pelagic fish and inshore for bluefins and have sold bluefins and bigeyes to japanese fish buyers (something i'm not proud of)....all tuna when prepared properly for sushi needs to be cured aleast overnight. The filaments in the flesh need to breakdown before it has the proper mouth feel. Bluefins are bought on consignment, blast frozen and fedexeed to japan for consumption. the fish o-toro comes from are bluefins over 300 pounds with highest fat content that killed quickly, bleed properly and iced properly. the fish buyers do the testing you saw the guys at the japanese fish market do on bourdains show. They are refered to as giants. They are considered to be by many the be one of the most difficult and prized sportfish to catch due to their persnickety nature and insane strength. Quite often their hearts explode during the fight. You have no idea of the strength of these creatures unless you witness it yourself Giants no longer exist for whatever reason in NJ and very rarely in montauk. Up until the late sixties (then called horse mackeral) they were extremely abudant in our waters but had no commercial value. The NJ record is over 1000 pounds and the world record over 1400 pounds. Most commercially sold giants are caught from block island to nova scotia, glouster (sp) probably having the best fishery the atlantic bluefin is the most regulated animal in the world. the season opens and closes at the whim of fisheries managers, sometimes even in the middle of the day.... To the great consternation of fisherman. the fish are highly migratory and the around the northeast between june and october with the season closed often. There is a recently discovered winter fishery of north carolina where no commercial fish are allowed to be sold. these fish are skinny (low fat content). The bahamas once had a great fishery which is almost non existant these days Fisherman think the bluefin stocks are healthy, enviromentalists think the bluefin should be put on the endangered species list, read the book song for the blue ocean, Safina and decide for yourself. If you want fresh tuna virtually no restaurant can get...go the montauk marine basin or brielle yacht club(nj) some august or september afternoon and buy fish directly from the boats...usually you will have yellowfins and longfins (albacore) but never bluefins with bigeyes of you lucky...if the bite is on, most boats will have more tuna than they no what to do with it. make an offer here are some pics that I found (not me) Bluefin Photos Note:edited to create photo hyperlink

another nice touch with celeste's cheese plate is that they match almost every cheese with a different preserve, its a detail that i really enjoy that some places miss, the other thing I remember about the cheese plate is the price, it was over twenty bucks!!...I really want to like this place but is so damn uncomfortable inside...

stopped by last night on my way home....had jumbalaya and barbecued shrimp. both excellent, to the best of my recollection it was the very similiar to the original (but then again I was hammered when I was at the original). the menu looks to be jacque-imo's light. I spoke to jacque and he said the were starting out with the easier dishes until the kitchen figured everthing out. rachel, they had the fried green tomato's with shrimp and chicken livers though but no fried roast beef, but again that should be on its way... A note about amberjack, its a fish that over the last 10 years or so has become much more popular on southern (a lot in florida) menu's. In my opinion its horrible. its considered by most fisherman to be a decent sportfish but a junk eating fish. unfortunalely many snapper and grouper fisheries have been fished out necessitating commercial fisherman to find alternative species, amberjack being one. I understand jacque can make it work but i would avoid at most places.

...when i'm bombed out of my tree at 4am they let me make my own hotdogs, I know just how i like 'em...well done dog, light kraut, lotsa onion

Agreed that the UWS is tough but here goes -Fairway steakhouse - its ain't lugers but its pretty good..is it still BYO? -the Braised lamb shank at Cesca is as good a meat dish served at any italian restaurant in the city..mike the bartender is pretty cool there -Gray's Papaya, on a relative basis its the best UWS has to offer -sal and carmine pizza - pretty good and its not patsy's (UWS) with all the ankle biters maybe whats going on down at the TW center will be spread north, and Jacque-imo's is coming but the more i think about it, i think we are just getting set up for dissappointment with that one....

Peanut gallery??? I think you mean peanut butter, like fantastic stuff they serve at mix...Had a really enjoyable meal there lastnight. Mix is not a restaurant I would normally frequent but it was a weird night anyway and with all the critics having bashed it and Fat Guy and others positive about it, It seemed to make sense that I give it a try. Im glad it did because I think we "got it" a few highlights...We did not do the off menu tasting as had been suggested here as we were not that hungry, I got the sense that we barely tested the kitchen....next time i'll crank it up a bit Clam Chowder - rich delightful really clammy in a good way dry aged L bone - just hair short of lugers, its that good, no better steak in manhattan in my opinion..mega aged flavor Ice cream tasting - Chocolate, caramel, vanilla, with cream and meringue...I love Ice cream, I LOVE ice cream tastings...better than Gramercy, hearth..the chocolate and caramel are distictly richer, more full of flavor with a better constitency than the chocolate and caramel I.C. during the old days of claudia fleming at GT The service was good, unintrusive, do you think Mix is a training ground of sorts for rising stars in the AD empire?, seemed that way to me, in a good way.... Loved the sommelier, I usually don't get along with these guys, they tend to annoy me and I have just enough wine knowledge to get me in trouble. A bit hard to understand, but made a suggestion for a barbera (i'm on a big italian wine kick) that we really enjoyed and was cheaper than the barolo I wanted. good sign. He went on to tell us about AD's new place in Tuscany, this place will definately not be my style but I appreciated conversation. as we were walking out he showed their sweet little cellar, sorta like a mini version of the one in Circo in Vegas, without the showgirl on a trapeze, unfortunately.... Sorry to be longwinded, but I stepped out of my comfort zone and really enjoyed Mix, It deserves far more exploration on my part, thanks to the times, NY Mag, etc for screening out all the putz's...I think I like Alain Ducasse.

As a big fan of the batali/ bastianich empire...I don't have a specific favorite, they all have there own merits. But a note on esca that is far different than the other batali places. Paternak will actually cook off the menu for you. Try that one at Babbo, good luck. Pasternak refreshingly is the antithesis of the high brow delicate genius chef. Bring your big wallet, let him do his thing and enjoy. one word of advice. Eat the local fish, this area has such fanstatic fisheries, unfortunely many knowledgable food types miss out because restautants here don't serve them. pasternak brings a lot of that to the table.

got it....sorry I missed that...I'd love to join you guys (but I'm driving out to my parents in jersey on saturday to get my pit ready for BBQ on superbowl sunday (not sorry about missing the burger joint though) ... the game probably will be boring but the Q is going to be goood!....

I just read a fair amount of the enormity of this topic and truly admire everyone for their quest for perhaps the best american food item but.... I can't believe JG Melon's is not on the list. a classic standby that never ceases to satisfy, I'm not saying its the best but come on....cafe luxembourg, judson grill, jackson hole, burger heaven???... i've unfortunately sampled all of these and they are at best adaquate.... Bluesmoke's burger is a new go to burger for, the meat is good but the bacon, perfect and the bun is a new standard for me. Danny Meyer at his best (the BBQ is another story although its getting better) I work in midtown and get dragged the the le parker meridian all the time...crappy bun, crappy meat, crappy cheese but hey its 5 bucks or whatever, way way overrated, i always feels sorry for the guests of the hotel, when they get home from dinner they have to walk through a lobby that smells like crappy burger....just my thoughts don't shoot me

I've only to Jacque-Imo's once ....but for me it was a similair expierience I had the first time I had pizza at Da Michele in Naples... You've had the tastes before but not like that, nowhere near that good...If the NYC version is anything like the original, NYC is in for a treat....my prediction is in a year or so the New York Times will be writing articles on the proliferation of cajun restaurants in NYC....

I'd like to throw in Bluesmoke's wings.....big plump wings, fried right, top notch bleucheese....why is everyging so good at bluesmoke except what its there for, the barbeque (the BBQ IMO is just ok)? like the burger, mac and cheese, chocolate cake, key lime pie, cuban sandwich, beers, cocktails, french fries, great fountain coke

Jeff, thanks for the post....I suspect you are staying in midtown so realtively unknown restraurant that I have really enjoyed is Ill Gattopardo on 54th btw 5th and 6th for a relaxed upscale distictly southern italian meal...but Batali is still defining italian food in this city, so if you wife has need for Italian you might not want to pass it up...you could walk into Lupa which has always been great in my book, just be prepared for a wait and (to put this delicately) rushed service...or you could sit at the bar or little tables in the front Room and babbo without a reservation... please avoid little italy, it caters to the unsavvy tourist crowd IMO....

Does anybody know the quality of the food at the private italian clubs in Manhattan??? I'm thinking about the Italian Gun Club on Mcdougal or the Columbus Club on the UES ....I have no idea but i'm really curious and for this exercise they might might have to be considered,....Wilfrid do private clubs/ Restaurants count?? Maybe the Fatguy can shed some light...

Via Quadrono in the 70's on the eastside. Best Tiramisu i've had in the city as well as very good panini...i'm told its a sister restaurant to one in Milan....