Hassouni

Went on Saturday night following a couple drinks at Pouring Ribbons. Didn't see a single Chinese person working there, but my God. I'm a huge Sichuanese food aficionado, and Mission was like a roller coaster ride plus a punch in the taste buds and kick in the gut. Ordered the salt-cod fried rice, the Chongqing chicken wings, the thrice-cooked bacon, and the mapo tofu, plus some of the pickles (the weakest part) The rice was really nice - subtle but very very tasty - also interesting to have a fried rice without soy sauce. The bits of salt cod provided a nice balance to the sweet Chinese sausage, and the entire dish was a good foil to the spicy onslaught which followed. The wings - holy shit. What are they dusted with, lots of Sichuan pepper for sure, but all I tasted was that, some sugar, and some MSG. Umami-mouth tingling explosion. My lips felt like they were fizzing like a glass of warm soda (I admit to actually spooning up some of the seasoning that was left on the plate and eating it straight). Also, the crispy fried dry chiles they come with are AWESOME, like chips but way way better. The bacon - Holy shit part two. I have never tasted anything more porky and smoky. The sauce was divine, thick, spicy, smokey, and tingly, and the tteok did a good job absorbing it. My friend and I were rationing it out to have bites throughout the meal. Mapo tofu - wow, just over the top. If I had this plus a bowl of plain rice, and nothing else, I'd be very happy. With everything else, it was probably overkill. Far more meaty and rich than any mapo I've had (of course, due to the generous use of pork shoulder) - this wasn't the incendiary, numbing dish I expected, but almost like a super heavy Chinese variant on chili. Really ridiculous. I'm still in awe over this meal - what the hell do they do?

Yeah, in my opinion it really is the best bar in the world. I also had a Last Word there that was like getting hit by a delicious herbal citrus icy bomb. I think I'm going to have to pony up the cash for a bottle of Chartreuse.. PS, Pouring Ribbons, also in New York, sells vintage Chartreuse by the ounce in tiny bottles (and hefty prices) - they have stuff going back decades.

I had a Champs Elysées at Little Branch last night and it was masterful. Don't know the ratios or anything, but it was a knockout - perfect balance of all the ingredients.

Well after going back to Little Branch last night, I think I can say I could happily live there. Still remains the best bar I've ever been to, though Pouring Ribbons was really really good and quite innovative

Now I have to hope some of the recipes are eventually revealed... that Dueling Banjos sounds really interesting to me. It's essentially a Mai Tai but with lemon standing in for the lime, freshly made corn milk standing in for orgeat, and two bourbons instead of two rums. I'm sure they'll give you the specs if you ask (the postcard that comes with the check has "fill in the blank" spaces pre-printed for cocktail recipes), and they're pretty active on Twitter as well. https://twitter.com/pouringribbons that's certainly true, I got thanked by them on Twitter an hour or two after posting about them! (I'm "WBHblog")

I just felt the drinks there weren't anything special. I went with 4 or 5 people, and we had two rounds each, so I got to try a good chunk of the menu, and nothing really blew me away. Granted, at LB and PR i was sat/stood at the bar and had direct interaction with the bartenders, whereas at PDT I didn't, but still, while it was good, it was nothing special when compared to its rivals in New York or even DC.

Went to Pouring Ribbons last night - it was phenomenal. Went around 9, no queue, somewhat empty, got great bar seats and had a good time. Our bartender was very friendly and knowledgeable. Apparently it was only their 8th night open. Tried to get into Death and Co 10 minutes earlier and they said there'd be an hour wait. After dinner (Mission Chinese) tried to go to Little Branch and the queue must have had 20 people in it, so went to Pegu Club, where we got right in. It was quite good, but I think Pouring Ribbons was better. I really like their flavor matrix

Ramps are out of season - try negi (Welsh onion)

Hm, given I'm only gonna be there two nights, I may have to whittle it down. Death and Co and Pegu Club are definites

Im headed to New York tomorrow for two nights and want to hit up some sweet cocktail bars. Last time I went to PDT and Little Branch. I thought PDT was overrated but absolutely adored LB. I was thinking this time Pegu Club, Death & Co, and anything else you can recommend, preferably in Manhattan. Is it possible to get into Milk & Honey without membership, by the way? Also, last time tried to go to Death n Co but it seemed to close early (like 1 or so). Is that normal?

3 cups refers to 3 Japanese rice cooker cups (gou) of dry rice. Each gou makes enough rice when cooked for two people, more or less. 1 gou is 180ml or pretty much 6 fluid ounces What you see implying it isn't a full 3 cups probably means it's not equivalent to 3 western cups, or, 3x240ml (3x8oz)

No, it doesn't crisp the rice. It makes very soft rice, at least when using Japanese styles of rice. Not sure if that's a Japanese preference or not. Does anyone know how I can make bulgur wheat (burghul) in a micom rice cooker?

Mince the lamb and make stuffed peppers and other dolma with it, and add some pom syrup (I'm just going to use that term from now on). This looks like a decent recipe, http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Iraqi-Stuffed-Onions, use the stuffing with peppers, onions, tomatoes, little eggplants, and of course grape leaves (for a real Iraqi twist you'd use swiss chard leaves)

Wow, expensive....

What I meant was, in a Melitta-style, pinhole cone, can one add water and walk away, or is it also an issue of hovering as with the v60? By the way, I did some practice pours out of a teapot and I seemed to get a pretty precise stream, so I might use that before deciding whether a dedicated kettle is worth it.

So I had my first ever pourover coffee today, from Filter Coffeehouse in DC. It was all made using Hario gear, from the v60 cone to the Buono kettle to the little glass beaker thing that the coffee dripped into. I really liked it (I usually drink either French Press, Turkish, or Vietnamese coffee), and I'd like to maybe get a setup for myself. I'm curious as to how the open-style cones like the Hario differ in end result from the restricted cones such as the classic Melitta design. If I can avoid spending $50+ on a fancy kettle (as needed by the open design), that'd be great, if the end product is comparable.

Mmm, three great rums! What's the recipe?

Well, orgeat is a syrup, not a liqueur, so I'd guess probably not

Depends who you ask!

Making, no, because in the Middle East it can usually be had for a buck or less. See if you can add some biber salçası, or Turkish sun dried pepper paste, or, to make it more Arabic, add some pomegranate molasses

Anyone made a swizzle with W&N overproof?

Laphroaig 10 is hard to get in SD? (Also, let us know how the Banks is!)

Gonna be in Kuwait for a week starting tonight, any recommendations of good places to eat? Especially interested in Persian and Subcontinental (Afghan is OK too), as well as any hole in the wall East/Southeast Asian places

Italian food always struck me as very similar in concept to Japanese - very simple treatments of very fresh, seasonal food, to let the base ingredient shine forth.

The rule of thumb is this - Arab brands are more sour, Iranian brands are sweeter (but still a bit tart). Former: Cortas (this is the main one) several others (Baroody as rotuts mentioned is one) Latter: Golchin Sadaf For something like Fesenjoon I use a mix of Golchin and Cortas.