weinoo

Yep - mimosas are on the menu too - but these peeps aren't big drinkers and most of them will be driving in from Joisey. Thanks for the b'day wishes, though it's Significant Eater's dad's birthday.

There will be no lutefisk ! There are no loathers - I know all of them pretty well, and I've seen what they do to a platter from Zabar's. Chopped liver at a brunch like this (appetizing) starts to breach a different realm (delicatessen), though they do sell it at Russ & Daughter's...hmmm...

You'd be surprised and it may seem counterintuitive, but those don't really go with a meal like this...to a group like this. A few pumpernickel bagels might be in the mix, but they will be left at the end. We secular Jewish New Yorkers eat sesame bagels, onion bagels, poppy seed bagels, plain bagels, everything (gasp) bagels and bialys (and I may throw a bulka and pletzel into the mix). Now, if I was to make some tuna salad and or some egg salad, it would be a totally different story. Hmmm....

Okay, I'll put out a bowl of nuts. Seriously, there will be eggs. Even more seriously, everyone in my wife's family (and in my family, for that matter), likes this kind of fish. When you grow up eating it, what's not to like, bubelah?

We're throwing a small birthday party brunch for my wife's dad's 80th birthday. By small, I literally mean no more than 15 people - all family. I'm looking for some ideas to fill in the menu, which will center around all sorts of goodies from Russ & Daughters. I'm going to be serving: Smoked salmon - 2 or 3 kinds, and maybe even some belly lox ('cause that's what Sig Eater really loves), or gravalax. Pickled herring in cream sauce and plain pickled herring (hey, it's Russ & Daughters, remember?) Whitefish Salad - it's Russ & Daughters, remember? Maybe some smoked sable or sturgeon Bagels, bialys, various cream cheeses, sliced tomato, olives Pickles - because they're around the corner too. As for what I'm actually producing: Potato pancakes with creme fraiche, chives and salmon caviar Frittata of herbs and parmesan Fancy green salad Cucumber salad - you know, the pickled kind Fruit salad or just some nice sliced fruit - the strawberries from Florida and the blueberries from Chile I've been getting have actually been quite good. Now the cake...I've toyed with the idea of actually baking the cake, and it would be chocolate layer cake. My pastry and baking teacher was Nick Malgieri, and when I was in school, I was a pretty good baker. But, that was a long time ago, and the experiments I tried this past weekend led me to believe that it would be best to order the cake, which I will. The annoying thing is that I've spent about as much on baking apparatus and supplies as the darn cake will cost me - but now I'll be able to fool around with cakes for regular dinners and just for fun. I'll probably bake some cookies and was also toying with the idea of making some rugelach. Of course, there will be freshly brewed coffee and espresso, for those annoying enough to ask for it. Plenty of juices, too. So, what would you add?

Cheap, excellent seafood @ Yuet Lee in Chinatown. Half priced oysters at Hog Island Oyster Bar in the Ferry Plaza Fuilding on Monday and Thursday from 5 - 7 PM. And a classic Crab Louis @ Swan Oyster Depot - though it will set you back at least $20.

Okay, I get it...there are people who like frog's legs and people who like gator and people who like snake. But I've tried them and just don't like 'em. As far as other amphibians and reptiles, I've never tried any. Do you eat reptiles and/or amphibians? And pray tell, which ones and how are they prepared?

What we ate at Jamonisimo...and they'll vacuum pack it...

Now this is good to hear...specials were not really happening for the first few weeks.

Just by a heading to a local supermarket you can find all sorts of canned goodies: tuna, anchovies, cod, mussels, clams, olives, olive oil, artichokes, etc. I also brought back all sorts of smoked Spanish paprikas. Sweet, bittersweet, hot, etc. And then, available at lots and lots of places, maybe some jamon Iberico.

You ought to get one of these...will help your rolling skills tremendously. Or you can try a set of these rolling pin rings if you don't want to get a new pin!

Warning...If you don't like to read something negative about a restaurant, please turn away. Last night was my second trip to The Beagle this past week, and my wife and I had tossed around the idea of having dinner at the bar, after indulging in a few of the excellent cocktails. Only, it wasn't to be. Why? Well, let's just put it this way; we were greeted at the door by perhaps the most unfriendly hostess (Significant Eater used a different word for her, but I don't use that kind of language) I have ever experienced in NYC...or anywhere else, for that matter. Maybe it was the fact that it was raining? Maybe it was the fact that I don't fit the demographic - although at every other place where the staff wears plaid shirts (The Fat Radish, for example), we've been treated like welcome customers. After all, isn't that the job of the person who greets you at the door - to make you feel welcome? Now, I do realize that I might have made an egregious mistake by attempting to put my umbrella into the umbrella basket without first making sure that it was closed up all nice and tight, but I still don't think that's a reason to treat a customer like a 6-year old who just spilled milk all over the place. Actually, if anyone ever treated a 6-year old like that, they'd probably be brought up on child-abuse charges. Be that as it may, I want to point out again that the cocktails were great. Both Tom and Abigail were behind the stick last night and treated us very nicely. Although if I was picking nits, I'd wonder why, at times, there are 5 people behind the bar. Isn't that a few too many, especially when your bar seats maybe 8 people tops? Oh, and on the way out, the hostess was just as unpleasant. So I have an idea for those 2 extra people behind the bar. Go work the front door, and make your customers feel welcome - even if they bring in an umbrella.

I think it may be a "time of the year" thing rather than a "production method" thing. I don't know if it's either. The grade appears to be based on the translucency of the finished syrup. But it does look like the darker syrups are produced later in the season... Interesting article in The Atlantic.

Of course they're probably also running it through some sort of sieve/strainer or maybe even a giant food mill. We never bother. A high powered blender is more than sufficient assuming everything is cooked properly. But for a soup? No need. I find a textural difference between a soup that has been sieved and one that haasn't - that's the need.

Exactly.

Of course they're probably also running it through some sort of sieve/strainer or maybe even a giant food mill.

I don't think it's a byproduct, but I also (after reading some more) found out it's not any more expensive to produce. There just appears to be a lot less of it produced.

I have a feeling it's probably a lot more expensive to produce.

And I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that it makes crappy espresso.

Pancetta? Guanciale?

Does bacon hash count?

Elvis?

Tortellini in brodo.

I have to agree with budrichard. The crap from China is useless. Any chance I get I pick up some hardneck garlic at the farmer's market in Union Square, but at $1.50 a head, even those have some green shoots by this time of year.

Agree the fries blow.