weinoo

Of course, your actual mileage may vary, but I had a pretty damn good lunch here just the other day... Lunchtime. Hunger. New York City. What are there, like a thousand places to eat? Actually, there’s probably more, especially if you count all the street meat that’s around; carts, trucks, kiosks, people selling tamales out of their granny carts, sidewalk food sold by squatting women in Chinatown - and on and on. Now compound that hunger problem with finding yourself in one of those places in New York City that sees a million people a day; people scurrying through its grand spaces, not there to eat but on their way from somewhere or to somewhere, generally in a hurry. And it happened to me last week (though I wasn’t in a hurry), when I ended up here, to visit that store at the top of the stairs… Normally, giant railroad terminals aren’t thought of as great places to eat (well, maybe in Italy, where you can often find a decent panini and a perfect espresso); they’re usually where you can grab a crappy sandwich or half-cooked hot dog, on your way, as I said, to or from somewhere. Grand Central actually has a food court in its lower level, which certainly does a booming business at lunch. But look a little further underground and you’ll stumble across this… Its official name is Grand Central Oyster Bar & Restaurant, and it has been sitting in the lower level of Grand Central Terminal for practically 100 years, falling into decline in the late 60s to early 70’s then rescued, renovated and now once again feeding hundreds of seafood happy customers on a daily basis. Don’t forget to check out the Gustavino tiled ceiling in this landmarked building… I like to grab a seat at the counter, because that way you get fed fast and you get to watch the show… Remember, this ain’t Le Bernardin folks. So start off with a bowl of clam chowder (I like Manhattan-style)… Chock full of briny clams (get there early), slightly spicy and with a handful of those oyster crackers crushed into it, it hit the spot. Then I moved onto the real reason I was here… Perhaps the finest oyster po-boy you can find in the city, simply loaded with perfectly fried oysters, a little shredded lettuce and a swab of tartar sauce to top it all off. A squeeze of lemon brought it to perfection…under $10! Even though I like the counter at lunch, the full menu is serious. Plenty of daily/seasonal specials. And the oysters? On any given day, the blackboard menu is likely to offer up at least 2 dozen varieties… I don't get here for lunch as often as I should, but for food this good, in a beautiful and historically landmarked building, it's worth a trip. And that goes for whether you're hopping on a train or not.

A couple of things. I believe Phil's original recipe called for Beefeater. And M & R for the sweet vermouth. Served up. Was the orange peel flamed? All of these elements will make the difference from a "regular" Negroni more apparent.

Pete Wells gets one right... NY Times review.

Not too surprising - it seems to happen a lot with pizza! Are they on 18th Street?

There have been, over the years, a few family feuds in the restaurant/food biz here in NYC. For instance, the Patsy's/Grimaldi's feud is a classic in the pizza business (Ray's, too). In the Chinese restaurant world, you really don't have to go any farther than the Grand Sichuan Int'l. chain, which keeps spawning offshoots and offshoots of offshoots. On the upper east side, something went on in the Balducci family, creating Grace's Marketplace, Agata & Valentina and yes, Balducci's. And don't forget the Zabars. I'm sure these types of feuds occur outside of New York as well. I'm looking to name a few.

It looks like a pretty darn good tournée knife.

Sometimes, places are open for a long time before I get there. Such is the case with Co. But, I'm glad I did, and I probably will go back, for a pizza pretty much unlike any other in NYC, and pretty delicious, too. With our salads, we ordered the pizza bianca, which is way different from any pizza bianca we've ever had in, say, Rome... Then we got down to a Pizza Rosa... And a Pizza Boscaiola... Now, don't necessarily go here thinking you'll get out cheaply. Of course, our party of 4 drank a little. Well, maybe a lot, with 2 bottles of wine and 2 draught beers (at the outrageous price of $8 a pint). We spent $100 a couple. YAMMV.

Yes, I guess. But according to some, refrigeration is the bane of avocados, no? My "experiment" seems to disprove both Cook's Illustrated and McGee. And Dave the Cook!

Maybe I was too quick to throw CI under the bus...perhaps it's McGee who needs to go? Earlier this week, I pulled out one of those still green avocados from the fridge (I didn't throw them away after all, wanting to experiment) and set it on the counter. As of today, I've had these avocados for 2 weeks, so for this particular avo it was about 10 days in the fridge and 4 on the counter. It looks like this on the outside... And when cut in half, it looks like this... Lo and behold, perfectly ripe and creamy and delicious, without even a hint of rotten or dry spots. Who knew?!

Have you looked at John's website?

You see, we're even getting conflicting opinions here - not really a surprise. I am wondering if the different varieties of avos respond in different ways to fluctuations in temperature and/or refrigeration. High-oil content avocados, like the Haas, may dislike refrigeration more than a variety like Fuerte. But, since they're all basically a warm-weather fruit, I'm probably just blowing smoke with this theory.

Isn't controversy what all awards are about?

So Cook's Illustrated should've read McGee, right? Of course, the fruit is never ripe when picked because it doesn't ripen on the tree. And I'm sure they get pretty damn cold on the trip to NYC from Mexico via truck.

Thanks, Charcuterer! From the Cook's Illustrated article, May, 2009: Exactly what I did with my $6 bag of avocados. Down the drain.

Does anyone have the May, 2009 issue of CI and can look at this article?

I know I recently read it - I just don't remember where, and a quick search of my current food mags left me still wondering. Anyway, what I read was that, contrary to popular opinion, the best way to ripen an avocado was in the fridge. The cold temperature allows the avocado to ripen evenly, as opposed to ripening on the counter, where you get air pockets and uneven ripening. (From the sound of this, it must've been CI, but I can't find the reference). So, a week ago I bought a bag of organic Mexican Haas avos (4 in a bag) and stuck them in the fridge. Today, they're still hard as a rock and look exactly like they looked when I put them in there. What gives?

Then if you can, you ought to go to a hardware or kitchenware shop and check out the clay pots!

I'd like to say thanks for all the great ideas. Brunch was this past Saturday. Real plates, real flatware, cloth napkins, the whole nine yards. The menu, as I planned it... Frittata (home made) Potato Pancakes (home made) topped w/Creme Fraiche and Caviar Buttered Pumpernickel topped with Smoked Sturgeon Belly Lox Gaspe Nova Whitefish Salad (Note to Katie Meadow: I don't know if you've ever had the whitefish salad from Russ & Daughters, but...) 3 kinds of cream cheese (home made chive/scallion, home made veggie/horseradish and plain) Health salad (home made) - basically, Jewish cole slaw Pickled herring and herring in cream sauce Olives Sliced tomatoes and red onion Mimosas Stumptown coffee Rugelach (home made) Cookies (home made) Birthday cake from Blackhound Bakery And then I woke up not feeling well on Saturday morning. So, I recruited some of the mispucha and the results can be seen here.

I've definitely seen them larger than the one on Amazon (2.5 quarts) in the Chinatown shops where I've bought them before. But I don't think it's a bad idea to buy a smaller one and experiment with it! Do you have a Chinatown where you live? Welcome to eGullet, by the way.

Of course, clay pot cooking goes farther than either Romertops or cazuelas. I recently purchased (as a replacement for a broken one) a Chinese clay pot, which cost much less than $10 (and wrote about it here). While I don't think it's used for baking bread in China, it definitely works for all the other purposes mentioned; oven, stove-top, for soups, casseroles, roasting, etc.

So it looks like the pork cheeks have actually replaced the pork chop on the menu. They were as delicious as described above. And my dining companion had the bass and devoured every last bite while especially enjoying the charred pickled tomatoes.

That's because Bourdain and his crew are always right on top of the cutting edge places . We've always preferred Sonoma to Napa, probably because it's a tiny bit more off the beaten track and none of the wineries that we've tried in Sonoma charged a fee. I have a different view of the driving and parking situation. Every time we go to San Francisco we rent a car - that allows us to take a drive down the coast if we want (even just out to the Cliff House for the stunning views), or over the Golden Gate Bridge and up into the Marin headlands. And I never have found parking to be a problem or that expensive - but perhaps that's because I live in NYC and compared to that, anything else is a breeze. Since you'll probably be splitting the gas costs, I'd imagine it will all equal out in the end.

Ding dong...

You know what...I'd like to see servers serve from the left. Just sayin...

The James Beard Foundation will now be giving an award which: Congrats to all the nominees, including our own Chris Amirault, as the bar he was/is involved with is a finalist... Providence, R.I. - Cook & Brown Public House