melkor

My emphasis above. Do you really think that’s true? I’ll wager you haven’t had a great chicken or just don’t appreciate the different between a good hen and a great one. There’s no way you can roast a an average chicken and have it taste like a great chicken. The best you can do is add extraneous flavor like garlic or herbs. There are posts on the France forum that will attest to the fact that members have had a simple roast chicken in France that made them wonder if they’d ever eaten a real chicken before. ← My point is obviously not that an average bird can be roasted to be the perfect example of roast chicken. I really do think that the skill of the person roasting a chicken has far more to do with the end result than the skill of a person cooking a steak - I'm stunned anyone would argue otherwise. In much the same way as a good taco-truck taco is made with average quality ingredients at best yet it still is a great thing to eat - some dishes showcase the ingredients, others showcase the skill of the cook, others showcase both. Steak is one of those dishes that showcases the ingredients and the price of high-prime beef makes it unlikely that a restaurant in a town of 12,000 people would be able to buy those top-grade carcases. As I've said in every other post, I'll be thrilled if Jocko's has amazing steaks - if milla comes back and says they are serving unbelievable steaks then I'll likely get there sooner. I'm still a skeptic.

I did indeed say anyone with a pulse and some meat from Lobels has a decent shot at making a better steak than most of the CA steakhouses - a cast iron pan, some butter, some salt, and some high-prime steaks is about all you need. Cole's in Napa is the best I've found, but it really doesn't compare to whats available in NY. My intent in starting this thread was to see if there are any places in CA at that level, at this point I'm fairly certain there isn't. High heat really isn't required for a great steak - I alternate between using a cast iron pan at medium heat and cooking over a ~1000*F chunk charcoal fire, each has its merits. Great food always requires quality ingredients but it doesn't always require knowledge or skill - a bunch of heirloom tomatoes, some salt, buffalo mozzarella, balsamic and olive oil outside on an august afternoon is tough to beat and requires excellent ingredients and opposable thumbs. Steak is like that to some extent; An excellent cook can perfectly roast an average chicken and it’ll be great, an excellent cook can’t turn an average steak into a great steak served the way it is in a steakhouse. Average quality meat can make spectacular braised dishes, stews, tacos, etc. Once you strip a dish down to one ingredient and some fire the end result depends on the quality of the ingredient more than it does in normal dishes. France has a much different culinary culture than we do, and my point about the French Laundry was just that if there were a Luger-level steakhouse in CA I'd imagine it would get more press. I'm likely to be driving down the coast sometime in the next few months, I'm not slamming anything - I'm just awfully pessimistic based on my other CA steak experiences. I'm looking forward to your report Enjoy the road trip - they are always a blast.

I'm not saying any moron can bang out a great steak, but steak is one of those things where the quality of the ingredients often means more than the skill of the person preparing them. Steakhouses in CA aren't paying the same prices for meat as Lobels or Peter Lugers or the others in NYC and if you have access to better meat than the local restaurants then you've got at least a 50/50 shot at making a better steak. I love eating in the sticks - there are lots of great places all over the state, but much like I'd be thrilled to find a restaurant on the drive to lake tahoe serving better food than the French Laundry it seems really unlikely. I'll certainly check out Jocko's next time I'm down the coast. Don't get me wrong, I'm certainly not saying Jocko's is crap - more that it's odd that I'd need to drive a few hundred miles from SF or LA to get a decent steak.

i got that impression from earlier in the thread. this ain't NY, and though one can get the meat at Lobel's, one still has to cook it correctly. that NY steak requires some serious special heat sourcing. besides, i trust my chef/friend who speaks highly of Jocko's and its sense of place, read it is not across the Williamsburg bridge. give it a try before you give up. eat there and then lets discuss... ← It's really not a good sign that the best steak in CA is supposed to be in the middle of nowhere between SF and LA but next next time I'm driving down the coast I'll check it out. It really takes little more than a pulse and a chunk of meat from Lobels to turn out a steak better than any I've had in the SF bay area.

I've long since given up on steak in CA. If you want an amazing steak just order one from Lobels and cook it at home.

Gary Danko Limon Shalimar

That may be my favorite episode.

I had someone rinse their glass with the contents of the spit bucket... Nothing else I've seen has come close.

I've merged the Antidote threads.

We sometimes make pot pie using cornbread as a lid, other times its a pie crust. Either way its in a cast iron pan. Start with a bunch of veggies, garlic, onions, whatever cooked in chicken fat then removed, then make a roux with whatever is left in the pan and a bit more chicken fat, once it's medium-dark toss in a bit of chicken glace and some cream, add some shredded chicken, put the veggies back in, add the lid and toss the pan in the oven.

I don't think you can have any sort of meal at the french laundry for $135 since the 9 course veggie menu is $125 plus 18% service plus tax you're spending $160 before you have anything to drink at all.

As long as the cherry glaze isn't too sweet, I'd go with a syrah or grenache based wine. Two grenache based wines I've had recently that would fit the bill are: - 2002 Las Rocas de San Alejandro Garnacha ($8), Spain - 2001 Cascabel Grenache et al ($15), Australia Both are big fruity wines that should go well with the dish.

Supermarkets with proper wine storage are very rare in CA - all of them sell wine, but most of them are selling wine that has been on the shelf upright, under bright lights for 6+ months. There are far fewer reasonable wine shops in rural CA than there are in rural NY because grocery stores carry wine and both storage and selection suffer because of it.

I'm still waiting for the cooking-fat-of-the-month club before I start placing my orders.

I couldn't agree more - I've got an over-the-stove microwave in the kitchen here and it's useless. It's an awful microwave and a worse vent-hood.

The food was all over the map that night, though the dishes were consistently under-seasoned. They do indeed have a nice wine list, the place is reasonably priced, and the food isn't bad. I wouldn't put significant effort into going there, but it's a good meal if you're in the area.

It seems from their policy page on their website that you can bring wine on board though they make no mention of corkage which I'm sure they will charge. Can't hurt to call and confirm, but it sure looks like that's a viable plan. I suspect that you'll need to keep your wine in your room and keep the temp in the room down to something reasonable to avoid cooking your wine.

Syracuse certainly is improving - each time we visit it seems there are more restaurants and more coffee shops opening up. If only the King David by the Hospital was open last time I tried to eat there.

Apparently TCA isn't an issue in vinegar - rather than test this myself I've been returning the corked wines I open to where they were purchased. One of these days I'll open an older bottle that is corked and I'll see if that's the case, but I've been fairly lucky in that regard recently.

Wow. The Turley Zinfandels start at $20/bottle on the mailing list and at the winery with the vast majority being $20-$35/bottle.

Yick. It's available for around $50 in restaurants here and if you visit the winery they will sell you some for retail ($28). I suppose Turley is likely to be the same way.

The Riedel cups look awful to me. If I didn't have the Illy Alien cups I'd likely buy the Nude ones. If you preheat the cup it'll keep your drink warm for the whole minute it takes to drink it after it's brewed.

The Rafanelli in my cellar cost all of $28/bottle - hardly a reason to dismiss them as a producer. I agree they are scarce, but they also best define the region. Amphora also does a good job with their Dry Creek zins.

Toss in the A. Rafanelli Zinfandel as my pick for the area. The Ridge Lytton is also excellent, as are the David Coffaro wines.

It's news to me too. Given that two buck chuck is made from wine purchased in bulk, blended, then bottled I suspect the folks at Bronco run into a fair amount of good wine - it's just much less good after they blend the best with the worst to hide it's awfulness. I'd guess what went off to the contest wasn't the same thing you find at trader joes rather it was a case of the best lot they had on hand.