Busboy

Yes, it seems that one restaurateur wants us to identify the phrase Swiss Miss with a completely different culinary delight. The owner of the Storchen restaurant in the exclusive Winterthur resort will improve his menu with local specialities such as meat stew and various soups and sauces containing at least 75 per cent of mother's milk. Eager to prove again that there is nothing they will not do to garner a few paragraphs of ink, PETA has lept on the bandwagon, with a modest proposal for Ben & Jerry's: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sent a letter to Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, cofounders of Ben & Jerry's Homemade Inc., urging them to replace cow's milk they use in their ice cream products with human breast milk, according to a statement recently released by a PETA spokeswoman. Guess we've found the answer to the old question, "How you gonna keep 'em down on the farm, not that they've seen Paree?" (Dude, I loved being in banking. But the folks have new contract with an ice cream company...." Any taste or ethical comments?

The great thing about a wooden tamis is that it's dramatically less expensive than the stainless models and -- of the ones I've seen -- has a finer screen. I like mine for doing things like mashing peas for soup or getting the seeds out of strawberries. It's very good at turning solids into pastes or any process where you have to force something through the mesh, while the chinois is more for straining solids out of liquids. Sometimes, when I'm at my most anal (when cooking from The French Laundry Cookbook ) I'll run something through the tamis and then, generally after adding liquid to it, pass it through the finer chinois mesh.

You know what? I spent my formative years doing political campaigns. Campaign work is a profession a lot like cooking. It attracts freaks, weirdos, malcontents and idealists. Entry level positions pay little or or nothing and the hours are grotesque. There's a huge premium for competence, as opposed to credentials. And the people who do it well, do it because they believe in something, not just because it pays the rent. Now, my own particular alma mater offers a degree these days in political campaign management, which we didn't have back in myday. But when my kid got the bug, God help him, I told to screw that: if he wanted to do politics, he should do politics. And so at 17 he went off to Maryland and then Pennsylvania and slept on the floor and smoked too much and didn't have a date and worked seven days a week and lost two campaigns. But now, he's back at it. He's making a little scratch, not much, but he's still too young to drink and still works 15-hour days, so it's plenty. He has responsibilities. He might win. And he got there because some guy he worked with in Pennsylvania two years ago liked his work, and remembered his name. So, I guess what I'm saying is that if you're not satisfied with your community college course -- and, from what I have read on this board, a lot of culinary programs are pretty poor -- why not move to a town where there is a critical mass of decent restaurants and do whatever it takes to get into a decent kitchen. If nothing else, at least you won't have to pay them to work. I know it isn't necessarily easy. But I had a buddy who started out doing scut work in a good restaurant here in town for free, without losing his day job. He's at the CIA now -- if he's not coming up through the ranks a la Jacques Pepin, he's at least at a place whose degree will open doors. Thomas Keller's culinary path was determined by a mother who needed a cook when the cook at the restaurant she was managing quit -- he used to call his big brother up to talk him through the Hollandaise sauce for the brunch Eggs Benedict -- and, later, an old school chef who put him to work making shift meals for the staff. The two best restaurants I ever waited tables for (back in the 80s, in DC) had chefs who never went to cooking school. I have drinking buddies who went to the CIA, they are excellent -- one is brilliant -- chefs. But if the money and the hassle makes attending a name school unlikely, why not take the route Thomas Keller did, and learn to cook in a kitchen, not a classroom?

Hoping to spend a couple of nights in Montreal and have a couple of questions. 1) Lots of great info in this topic. Anybody have anything to add? Given that that I'll be traveling with a slightly teenager and an exchange-rate battered wallet, should I just stop worrying and make a reservation at APdC? Anything similarly priced that's less touristy or just better? Also, an inexpensive cafe with reasonably priced wine and good people-watching would be appreciated. 2) Language: should I make reservations in my adequate-at-best French or politely inquire if the person on the other end of the line speaks English? I have been told that the Quebecoise can be prickly on this matter but I have no firsthand experience. 3) If anyone has a recommendation for a nice dirt-cheap hotel -- and we'll sleep anyplace without an active insect infestation or tranny hookers in the lobby -- we'd be grateful. 4) Going through customs back to the U.S. -- what can one bring through? We're headed towards a friend in a beautiful but culinarily-deficient region of New England and would like to pay for our visit in shellfish, cheeses etc, but have no desire to be strip-searched and arrested based on an illegal lobster. Thanks.

You might try Jacques Pepin's Complete Techniques. Very old school and every recipe illustrated by many photographs. Arguably more a technique book than a recipe book, but each technique is actually an illustrated recipe, and there are a couple of hundred, at least.

I tend to check with the host when wandering into a restaurant seeking only to drink and graze. Whether you were dissed in this particular case is hard to say, but its a pretty common policy at restaurants above a certain level of expense/sophistication.

He's giving up cooking and going to drinking full time.

I never saw any of the tattoos when when I've been there, and they don't seem to give him any control over the background music, but maybe you can tell CityZen sommelier Andy Myer's heavy-metal heart by the audacity with which he foists not just wine from various odd addresses on the diners who come to him for a match, but even the occasional beer. More here. I wonder if they'll let Andy do the backstage catering next time Iggy (OK, not technically metal) comes to town ( from Iggy's rider as reproduce on Smoking Gun ) "Look there's f***ing loads of good red wines...ask the man in the wine shop. Or here's a number of suggestions...." Even more exciting: have him do a wine and music cage match with cross-town rival and classical harpsichord enthusiast Mark Slater of Michel Richard Citronelle.

Last day for Wabeck is August 2nd.

Moderator note: as was pointed out to me, Texas is apparently a pretty big place and this topic is largely confined to Houston. Therefore, I've stuck Houston in the title and we're encouraging folks to start other topics picking up on this same -- excellent, btw -- idea for other areas of the Lone Star State. Cheers

I think one can maintain high standards and accommodate the occasional deviation from them to ensure that the customer enjoys themselves. I am always put off by, for example, the chefs who make a big deal about not cooking beef beyond a certain point -- fell free to suggest that the diner/drinker would enjoy themselves more if their order was prepared a certain way, but don't try to dictate their taste to them. I haven't been to Le Bernadin, but I have in the past found that even restaurants of the highest caliber (including a couple in which I worked) will gladly make reasonable accommodations -- even if the chef and waiters are rolling their eyes and gleefully trashing the Barbarian at table 6 back in the kitchen.

I've eaten twice at Five Guys and hope never to do so again....cooked gray and topped with a sad parody of real cheese, they don't impress. I did, however, drop in to Michael Landrumm's new venture, known colloquially as Ray's Hell Burger and officially as officially as Butcher Burgers. Landrumm, the "improprietor" of Ray's the Steaks and Ray's the Classics did indeed look a little satanic when I dropped into Hell Burgers the other night, with stubbly little beard that might have been patterned after that Deviled Ham guy's and glint in his eye that seemed driven by the thrill of tempting the masses, or maybe he was channeling the ghost of the topless dancers who once work out of that Arlington strip mall location (same one as Ray's the Steaks). Outside of my own kitchen, it seems to be the only place in town where you can get A stinky slab or proper Taleggio on your bacon-cheeseburger (as well as "Merkin, aged Vermont white cheddar, imported Swiss, imported Gruyere, aged Danish Bleu/Italian Gorgonzola, smoked mozzarella, Monster, Brie, pepperjack)... [and a] a changing selection of specialty and artisinal cheeses..., Epoisse, Rogue Creamery Smokey Blue, Queen Anne Stilton, Pa Noble Cave Aged Amish Cheddar, Chimay a la biere, Taleggio, and Bel Paese." Lines were long but the burgers were worth the wait -- immense, properly cooked and excellent meat, by the same provider who supplies his other restaurants.

For what it's worth, I picked up some quercetin and bromelain at the health food store and they seemed to have an immediate and beneficial effect on the inflammation. I'm not positive that they did the trick -- I take all internet-based advice with a grain of salt -- but the swelling was down within hours of my first dose. I'm also consuming massive doses of fresh cherries and blueberries, surely the most pleasant prescription I've ever had filled. Am looking forward to my first bit of red meat in over a week tonight -- we'll see how the toe reacts to organic goat and free-range pig.

Fortunately, we are in the midst of cherry season right now, so I'm able to bypass the juice and go straight to the source. Otherwise, I was pleased to determine that pizza is approved, as well as cheese and broccoli, so I'm able to buckle down to a weird but tasty diet. Thanks everyone for all the tips, I'm hoping to get through this without having to hit the doctor for drugs or abandon sweet breads for life and will report back, in case I learn anything of use.

As a tall, poorly coordinated individual with a liking for strong drink and bare feet, I am not altogether unfamiliar with the way a toe or two feels the morning after having been smashed against something the night before, a door-jamb while on the way to the cellar for another bottle, perhaps, or a bit of baseboard while journeying to the kitchen for something cold from the fridge: that sear when you role over and smush the toe(s) against the mattress, the colorful bruises encircling a joint or two, the pointless trip to the doctor where he says "yup, it's broke," tapes the toes together and advises you to wear hard-soled shoes for a while. But I was mystified by this one. I'd been on a belated "get-in-shape-for-summer" program and living entirely on food and water for days at a time, so it seemed odd that I couldn't remember the cause of the searing pain at the base of my big toe. Whatever it was, walking around on it -- limping, actually -- didn't seem to make it any better and so, at the pleading of my wife I wandered into the emergency room about 7 AM last Saturday morning (a surefire way to beat the usual mobs of bleeding and/or unconscious emergency room victims to whom triageurs might assign a higher priority than your toe) and hobbled out with a diagnosis of gout. This shit hurts. More than that it's inconvenient -- it makes everything from cooking dinner to walking to the bus stop a pain in the ass foot. It also sounds stupid --it's not like I'm some French lord living on foie gras and caviar. Try saying "I can't, I have gout" to someone with a straight face. And worse, it's messing with my dinner -- no meat, fish, poultry, tofu [!] or booze, at least for as long as the outbreak lasts. Gout is indeed caused by one's diet, and it's not only sweetbreads and rognons du veau which are to blame. Apparently all meats, but especially red meat, and even that demon spinach are high in the feared purines, which elevate the level of uric acid (ick) in the bloodstream which then cause little deposits to form on your toe joints after which, depending on the direction you're counting, that last little piggie does indeed cry "wee wee wee" all the way home. So, my question: anybody out there ever had this? Any tips for speeding the healing process? Do Quercetin and B-5 work? Is there a "safe" level for meat? How does one diminish the odds of a recurrence without living like a vegan? Any tips or amusing stories appreciated.

It's been far too long since I've been to Miami, but when I do get back a stop near what's left pf Calle Ocho for a Cubano sandwich will be high on my list of things to do. When I was last there, I had a wonderful meal at the Blue Door in the Delano Hotel, and an elegant cocktail in the bar beforehand. If you're like me and like to have one night to trot out the fine linen clothing and expensive cologne, and feel the sea breeze blowing as you sample what one of the fabled Troisgros clan is throwing down, it's probably worth your time to hunt down some recent reviews.

My friends and I are counting the days until it's sea urchin season again and The Fresh Lobster Company can ship us another few dozen. In the mean time, they offer an excellent variety of shellfish -- their Wellfleets are not to be messed with -- and, based on my few dealings with them, they appear to buy straight off the docks in Gloucester, Mass; we once had an order canceled because the boats couldn't go out on the appointed day.

I don't know about the cow, but you might talk to Brian at Truck Patch Farms (Website here -- under construction but does have contact info) may be able to help you out. He's also generally at the Mt. Pleasant (DC) Market on Saturdays and Baltimore on Sundays. I've bought a whole piglet from him and I'll bet he can get you what you need, probably even butchered, if you're flexible on the timing. Not sure how "pure" it is. As you probably know there are many levels of purity in the pig business, but pretty sure it's free-range and hormone-free and completely sure it's rich and tasty. Tell him Charles and Stephanie from Mt. Pleasant sent you.

The Colorado Kitchen, which drew hordes to its off-the-beaten-track location for homey dinners and a celebrated brunch -- and which provided fodder for at at least one memorable dust-up on eGullet and a more memorable eGullet event is closing its doors. No word yet from outspoken chef, autobiographer, eGullet interviewee and co-owner Gillian Clark as to next steps.

Living in Toronto, whenever we cross the border into Buffalo, we're always shocked at how cheap your fast food is. At the most basic level, you have your Mcdonald's $1.00 menu, Denny's $4.99 big breakfast, and Ponderosa's dinner buffet for $7.99 (or around there). This kind of food may not be appealing to people who Love food and everything about it, but for 3.00, you can have some kind of burger, fries and drink, without any more effort than getting to the restaurant and standing in line. Plus, there's no dishes to wash, no clean up to do. I can definitely see how fast food can appear to be more appealing than setting out to cook a meal. I also think this level of cheap fast food contributes to the obesity epidemic. ← There is nothing available at a fast-food restaurant that is cheaper than a box of macaroni and cheese and a tree or two of broccoli (shared by two). If you compare aples to apples, crap to crap and haute cusine to haute cuisine, it's always cheaper to eat at home.

Yes -- although the name escapes me at the moment. Much more French than Ethiopian (though the owner is much more Ethiopian than French).

Note: Abiti has changed hands and name, and is damn lame now. Queen Makeda, on the other hand, seems to have emerged as the challenger to Etete and Dukem for supremacy.

In which Jaleo did you dine?

We're expecting a significantly lower income this year and we've definitely cut back on several levels. Far fewer fine -- or even decent -- dining meals. When we don't feel like cooking, it's $25 for pizza, Ethiopian or Salvadoran, rather than $50-60 for Chinese or Thai or $80-100 for Indian. And we're getting our meat from the butcher, not from the farmers' market where, good as they are, the $10/lb pork chops just aren't in the budget any more; this morning I picked up enough pork roast and onglet to feed ten people over two days for about $35. That's food cost I can live with. Fortunately, as low-carbon footprint urban dwellers in an ethnic enclave, neither grocery shopping nor dining out involves any significant gas expenditure, and we can buy almost anything we need for an Asian or Latin peasant meal within a few blocks of home (love that $4.99/lb skirt steak) -- we made some fine drunken noodles the other night, and the basil for tonight's pesto is coming out of the garden

Thomas Keller has a cold pea soup recipe that involves vegetable broth, truffle oil and Parmesan crisps and is well worth the effort -- we wait all year for fresh peas from the market (cursing the pea vines). I also like peas and any pasta dish that can be tweaked to involve cream and/or shellfish.