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You really have to freeze the canister in a canister machine for 24 hours. And I always "age" my base at least overnight in the fridge. It should be as cold as possible before being spun in the ice cream maker.

Yep- I'd start by making a Philadelphia style vanilla ice cream. Sorbets are easy - and grapefruit Campari is indeed a favorite of mine... click.

This might prove the freshness point.

Whole Foods wild USA shrimp. I believe from Key West.

The Village Voice's food blog, Fork in the Road, went out to find the 10 best gelati in New York City (available at retail, so stop screaming about Otto's gelato!). Their winner is the one I've always liked best too (even when it was in its teeny shop next to the Tenement Museum) - Laboratorio del Gelato.

I don't know what's happening (well yeah, I guess I do), but all of a sudden the lower east side has become a pretty darn good place for reasonably priced meals with an Asian slant. Or, to put it another way, there are now some very good places to get almost Chinese food that aren't the usual slop houses found on every block. Of course, there's MCFNY. And there's also Yunnan Kitchen, which opened practically concurrently. I finally got around to checking out YK the other night; it was only me, and I was only able to sample 3 dishes, but I'll be back. First off, it's nice to walk into an ostensibly Chinese restaurant and be greeted warmly and professionally. I grabbed a seat at the bar, water was offered and I had a beer within a minute or two. For now, drinks are limited to wine and beer, but they have a number of beers on draught as well as 3 wines by the glass which are from the Gotham Project, offering good wines out of refillable stainless steel kegs. I really enjoyed 2 out of the 3 dishes I ordered. Where my mint and frisee with cherry tomatoes was merely kind of blah, the lamb meatball skewers were great. 6 pretty good sized lamb balls (3 per skewer), luscious and fatty and sprinkled liberally with ground cumin. I also enjoyed, as has everyone else who has sampled them, the fried potato balls - these showcased a perfect hand at the fryer, immediately made me think of tater tots, yet were so much better. And who'd have thought that dunking fried mashed potato balls into a soy based dip (served alongside) would make them even better? The chef, Travis Post, comes here via Franny's and Brooklyn Larder, and along with co-owner Erika Chou, they aim to bring to the lower east side a cuisine from an area of China not often served in restaurants in my neighborhood. Whether it's traditional or not is besides the point. After only a small sampling, I like their interpretation of it, and look forward to a number of good meals here.

Those tables are for models, so 3 can fit where 2 normally would...I think McNally perfected that at Schiller's... . I've been able to cobble together my meals so that not everything is super spicy, which is really the way to go. I love this place.

I didn't notice that the oats contributed anything to the flavour, in fact, the frikadeller were quite bland. Next time I make these, I'm adding thyme and a little nutmeg. And maybe replace the 'panade' with chopped mushrooms. Let me kow how your bread comes out Do you do a sample before you make the whole batch? To taste for seasoning, etc. Often, what's perceived as (or what is actually) bland just needs some punching up with salt and pepper...often, more than you think is needed!

It looks like eGullet's own Alchemist, that is the one and only Toby Maloney, along with the one and only Joaquin Simo, are (at least) 2 of the main kahoonas behind the soon to be open E. Village cocktail joint Pouring Ribbons. There's an ad up now on Craig's list, looking for servers and bartenders, et. al., which means that they have to be getting close to an opening date. The ad's provenance is Alchemy Consulting, a company which seeks to increase the profitability of bars and restaurants via their beverage consulting services. Joaquin and Toby, along with Jason Cott and Troy Sidle, are the brains behind Alchemy. This is all great news for cocktail freaks.

Wait. Dried ramps?

This past March, a friend and I led an IACP tour group, where we got to see first hand a rooftop "garden" in Queens, NY. It was followed by dinner at Roberta's, in Bushwick, where gardening is also part of their claim to fame. Yesterday's NY Times ran a nice article about rooftop farming, including a profile of the place we visited, Brooklyn Grange. Now don't call it a garden, because the rooftop we toured in Queens actually was an acre large...not your typical backyard. In addition to supplying residents and restaurants with locally grown produce, these urban farms are also supplying places such as Whole Foods. I personally have bought greens from Gotham Greens (based in Greenpoint) at Whole Foods; I'm sure others have as well (otherwise they probably wouldn't be stocking them). Other than the obvious locally grown produce, these rooftop farms provide certain ancillary benefits. As the article points out: So, looking at all the benefits, as well as few downsides, is this the future of agriculture? What do you think?

For some reason, I expected the food costs to be higher...carry on!

Start plucking. I have been known to pull out stray feathers with the same tool I use to pick pin bones out of salmon.

So give us an idea of food costs over there. For instance, how much was that chicken?

Tough call. This is far from standardized American Chinese fare. So, if they like spareribs and wonton soup, this isn't the place for you.

I think Mjx is here per the OP: One of the owners of Cafe Katja, here on the lower east side of NYC, is from Austria, where his family has an elderberry farm. There's often an item or two on the menu containing them, usually a cocktail, sometimes a food course - always delicious.

Yes. Until a certain point, when the bean will be carbonized.

My point exactly, Steve.

Oh, please. I think you're grasping at straws. She is self-righteous and preachy - but that's not the point. And Trump didn't change the way business is done the way AW changed the way food is understood in the US; he's just a big ahole in a world of aholes.

A long time ago I started a topic called Tired of the Alice Waters Backlash..., that sure brought out people's varied opinions. I've always been a fan of Alice, her didacticism and sometimes holier than thou-edness notwithstanding. And I guess I'm not the only one - especially amongst the professional field. As Jonathan Waxman says in an Eater interview, when asked about certain people mocking Alice: It's certainly nice to see a respected professional offer an opinion about this, because it seems like most of the disrespect comes from those who, ummm, don't really know as much. But they're certainly not afraid to offer their opinions. And Bourdain - well, he's just out to make a buck, no? So, what do you all think now?

Great points, all.

A few more visits keep confirming that Chef Bowien is putting out some amazing food and is not averse to tweaking the menu, depending on availability of various proteins and produce. Lunch is a civilized time to try MCFNY, and last week Significant Eater and I did just that. A few standouts included this fiery catfish dish, Catfish A La Sichuan... It was so bloody hot, that we figured a cold dish would hit the spot. We weren't wrong when we went with the Chilled Buckwheat Noodles... I'd been wanting to try the Savory Egg Custard for a while, and was happy it was available... Easily one of our two or three favorite restaurant openings this year. As an aside (okay, maybe not an aside), I just think the service here is great. Everyone is so nice and helpful. Keep up the great work!

Usually, the neck sold here (in NYC or DC) is pretty darn bony. Love it for stew, however.

Yes.

Probably the shoulder, which can be cut up into its different muscles and then into cubes.