weinoo

I think what's actually happening is "younger people" (old Gen Zs and young Gen Ys) are trending to cocktails, especially Martinis (or, god forbid, espresso martinis). One or two of those, with an order of fries, becomes dinner. Or as a restaurant owner recently told me: Four kids come in, order Martinis and share an order of fries. No need for wine. Look at this "Happy Meal" from the restaurant Cecchi's: NEW YORK HAPPY MEAL MARTINI & FRIES | $25 Every day 5-6pm & one hour before close And then there's this, from Grub Street:

Did you make furikake after infusing the dashi?

I like the idea of rice and various accompaniments, as well as dashi. As a matter of fact, there's a great source for dashi of all types, here in Brooklyn. I love this shop... https://okume.us/ Where they will custom blend any dashi ingredients of your choice, and bag them for you.

I certainly like Nueske’s, but Schaller & Weber make good stuff too… https://schallerweber.com/collections/bacon

Duck and string bean fried rice. Roasted broccolini and carrots.

Let's go.

I think it’s almost impossible to clean Silpats totally. I got rid of mine, and just use parchment at this point.

Another: Rack of lamb, coated with mustard, olive oil, herbs, salt and pepper. Served with green beans with shallots and twice baked russet potatoes.

This is cool…the Minnow products come from the restaurant group I really like, and often dine at.

The Trader Joe's I shop at put these out last week. Italian chestnuts. They are surprisingly good.

Yes - this was the first of the 2024 crop they received, I think. There's still some 2023 harvest left on the site, but very little. Stuff comes by boat and possibly takes a long time to get here. Their rices are all most likely going to be way different than any Basmati, as they're short or medium grain rices.

This came yesterday... 2024 crop, milled the day before it's shipped. Also got some rice bran oil and some fancy rice vinegar in order to push the total to where it's free shipping.

We went to a small holiday party last night at a friend's home. The group included a couple of well-known food/drink people. That's author/spirits writer Robert Simonson on the left and Brooklyn Brewery's brewmaster Garrett Oliver on the right. Couple of batches of home made egg nog; one is this year's, the other is year-old aged. In the thermoses, various ice-cold Manhattans and Martinis. Robert brought a bottle of Old-Fashioneds, made in the style of Pittsburgh bar Warren Bar and Burrow. Garrett brought along a few cans of his limited edition collab with Guinness: And a little cheese: Over which was shaved a bit of white truffle. At that point, host had to open some Krug.

Your picture above reminds me of a picture I took quite a few years ago. It was right around the same time of year, but from a different vantage point:

And the changes being made in Paris, just like here in NYC, aren't all hunky-dory. To whit: Death of Cyclist in Paris Lays Bare Divide in Mayor’s War Against Cars

Today, on his substack account "Out of the Oven," Jeremiah Tower was kind enough to share with us all a few of his classic New Year's Eve menus from the 80s and 90s. I'm not talking Chez Panisse; I'm talking Santa Fe Bar and Grill and Stars (perhaps my favorite restaurant in the US...like...ever). Just a great chef, who tapped into the food zeitgeist of the times better than anyone, in my opinion. But it wasn't just the food; it was the mood, the service, the sexiness of the places, that really proved his ability to look ahead and see what we'd really want from a fun night out at a cool restaurant. Keith McNally thanks Jeremiah for what he begat...literally. Enjoy the menus... NEW YEARS SHOW STOPPERS

This was a "use everything you can in the fridge already" dinner. So that can turn into carbo laden stodge. Of the best kind: Soup. Ham, potatoes, mushrooms, carrots, celery, leeks, onions, shallots, tomatoes, green chili. Salad. Little gems, cucumbers, almost decent winter tiny tomatoes.. House-made blue cheese dressing. Jamón serrano (Formaggio Essex) on focaccia (Pain d'Avignon). Happy spouse. Jacques would be proud (of the soup).

My take is that the recipe you're looking at has components which go very well with lamb. Since you can't cook with lamb, I imagine those components will taste good with chicken, and maybe not so great with beef.

Starter: Braised giant artichokes. Dipping sauce of mayo, yogurt, mustard, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, s&p. Chicken scarpariello, oven-braised in lieu of stove-top cooking. Got a little crispy skin this way. Served on a bed of Anson Mills coarse, rustic polenta integrale.

Boy, you really like to take your chances! We'll be back in February. If you're there on Sunday, the organic market on Blvd. Raspail is awesome...https://parisjetaime.com/eng/shopping/marche-raspail-p2262

Indeed - it's super popular; your best bet for L'Industrie might be like 4 PM. Or one of the others mentioned! I often forget, but McNulty's (which opened in 1895!) was probably one of, if not the first, tea and coffee shops in the city to offer beans for sale. My cousin worked there like 50 years ago! One more Chinese food mention, certainly for a lunch and with a group, is Great NY Noodletown, for their soups and roasted meats.

I just received an NY Times's newsletter in my email. Here it is, with some pithy comments by yours truly:

I would make a reservation for all dinner meals. I'm willing to recommend one more classic deli, and that would be Sarge's, on 3rd Avenue and 36th St...https://sargesdeli.com/ Sure, you can (if close to)_ go to 2nd Avenue Deli, but I've left disappointed a few too many times. For pizza, your options are, well, a lot. For old-school classic sit-down pizza, Lombardi's, John's on Bleecker St. will scratch the itch. Slice shops that are beloved include Joe's and my favorite, L'Industrie on Christopher St. (Yes, there are many more, just trying to make it easy). Surprisingly, in the theatre district, there's good non NY-style (i.e.: more Neapolitan) pizza at Don Antonio. Essex Market has any number of prepared food stalls, including Zaab Burger's Thai-style hamburgers. There's a great Japanese shop, soups, roast chicken meals, sandwiches and good bread at Pain D'Avignon, etc. etc. You can see what you like, buy prepared food and eat it upstairs, where there are plenty of tables and chairs. I think you've got a few good suggestions for what might be considered good traditional fare, which is kinda hard to define. Oyster pan roast at the Oyster Bar downstairs at Grand Central? Hot dogs from a cart - NO! Crowds always do well at some of the Chinese restaurants - as mentioned above, Uncle Lou. Additionally, Congee Village comes to mind. In my neighborhood, we go to Wu's, where you can bring your own wine. And it's bright enough to do surgery in many of the Chinese places, if that's your thing.

Did not cook last night; instead, went to this fabulous dinner, which was a collab between the James Beard Foundation and Cervo's Executive Chef, Manager, etc. Only took one picture, as we were busy schmoozing. The fried shrimp heads, with the peel and eat shrimp behind. The James Beard House is where our class held our graduation dinner, from what was then Peter Kump's NY Cooking School. I got to actually cook in Beard's kitchen. Last night's event took place at Pier 57, PlatformbyJBF. Pier 57:

Two of my local favorites, which I failed to mention above, are Cervo's and Eel Bar. Eel Bar just received a nice mention in the Times this week: Hungry for the Best? Here Are Our Top New York Dishes of 2024.