weinoo

If you're doing the drive from Monterrey to San Francisco, or the other way, there's a fine old restaurant (perfect for lunch) named Duarte's Tavern, in the town of Pescadero, snuggled in the hills north of Santa Cruz. Been there forever, and their artichoke soup is the best I've ever had...they also do some fine, local seafood. I don't see it mentioned, but we had a great meal at Commonwealth (and they have a little parking lot!). We also enjoyed Cotogna. And for breakfast/lunch, Plow, up on Potrero Hill was fabulous - we went a few times over the course of a week. Here's what I wrote about Commonwealth and Duarte's.

It's fucking annoying, to be sure. You just have to pick your times and things will work out fine - same as they did with Noodle Bar and Ssam Bar, back in the day. MCFNY is fine at lunch (which I understand is not possible for a lot of people) and they also take some reservations. Adam Platt, imo, was just looking for stuff to not like about MCFNY.

A two-star review from Wells in the NY Times: I like the delicious havoc.

I don't know for sure, but I'd have to think they passed fire code.

A return visit, with Significant Eater in tow, and we weren't disappointed. Once again, from the welcome, to the wines on tap from Gotham Project (including a nice NY State riesling that, imo, pairs perfectly with this style of food), Yunnan is a great addition to Clinton St. and the neighborhood in general. Since she hadn't been yet, a couple of things I liked were ordered again. So we had the fried potato balls... And the lamb meatballs on skewers... There was a delicious special, called Mala Chicken wings, which were actually two wings and two drumsticks coated in what I believe was Sichuan peppercorns, cumin, salt and something else. These were our favorite dish of the night... To finish, we had a rice cake dish which was okay, but made me long for the rice cake preparations at Momo. 3 out of 4 isn't bad, though...and we'll keep going back to try the rest of the menu. Also, the prices are pretty gently for the food. I think the 4 dishes we had were no more than $40 (of course, we had a carafe or two of wine and some beers, which basically doubled the bill).

A smackdown of MCFNYC by Platt in NY Mag. I think it's a fairly lame review, like he went once, didn't like it, and reviewed it without trying much more of the menu perhaps?

Though it's not the most up-to-date, here's the topic I started, along with the responses, for my last trip to San Francisco... San Fran - Must Go/Must Avoid

Back to burgers in NY, a couple of fine burgers that I've recently sampled include... Spotted Pig's Jack's Wife Freda's and my old favorite, at J.G, Melon's was still quite fine, and approaching $10...

I've started a topic on just this subject.

Is a west-coast burger the in 'n out style?

While there are a most likely a ton of places to add to this list, it appears as if one of our local favorites, Black Iron Burger Bar, might be no longer. Last night, 4 of us were dying for a burger (along with those fired pickled green tomatoes) and headed over - where we were greeted by a lights out, empty restaurant. No sign on the door - nothing - just a closed up joint. According to their recorded message, they will be closed for renovations until July 19th - last night was the 21st, so maybe there is still some hope. Ah well...

I'm kinda in the middle - I use 1.5 gms per oz. of water. Maybe it comes from the same people who enjoy triple ristrettos using about 21 grams of coffee - I've never really enjoyed that intensity.

Unlike the impatient Mayur, I've never had a wait getting in, save for my 20 minutes on opening night. Of course, I don't mind eating early or eating lunch, which tends to be a bit more civilized. As a matter of fact, I have a reservation for 6 for next Friday night, which wasn't a problem to get hold of. I tend to think of MCF's food as unique, only because I don't really see any other restaurant making Kung Pao Pastrami, Salt-Cod fried rice, Broccoli beef using brisket and smoked oyster sauce, cumin scented lamb breast and so on. YMMV.

I've always like Nigella and always disliked competitive cooking. Now, if the winner got to spend the night with her...

MAKE. YOUR. OWN. NOT. THAT. HARD.

Shrimp, grits and corn off the cob...

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.