KatieLoeb

Hi Dave! ::wavin' at 'ya:: Marco Polo syrup comes in a bunch of different flavors in addition to Sour Cherry. I get mine at the local Lebanese market. Kalustyan's also carries it in NYC, and I've seen it for sale at Amazon.com as well. If you Google the phrase Marco Polo +syrup, it'll give you a bunch of sources. Ethnic markets are always a goldmine for finding unusual syrups, sweeteners, fruit juices and nectars, etc. The first thing I look for is stuff for cocktails. I love fresh fruits muddled in my drinks, but syrups and fruit juices/nectars are a lot more consistent and also mix throughout the drink more thoroughly. I work a pretty small bar, but if I'm busy, I'm tending to my bar customers, service bar and playing glass drying/polishing monkey all at once. Muddling is a pain in the butt and too time consuming, not to mention inconsistent. And then there's all that detritus floating in the glass. Nah. I'll go the easy/convenient way every time, at least in the commercial environment. At home I can do whatever I feel like at the time.

The mystery dumplings were shrimp shiao mai, I believe. I'll second that everything was delicious. They really couldn't have been nicer and they'll be seeing my face with more frequency when I need a soup dumpling fix, that's for sure. The only thing I didn't care for was the pork stomach thing. The stomach had a weird acrid aftertaste I really couldn't handle. The pork tongue was surprisingly good. Not something I'd have ordered on my own, but I'm glad I tasted it.

If you can find a bottle of Marco Polo Sour Cherry Syrup from Croatia, it makes for a very delicious cherry-lime caipirinha and is consistent and shelf stable. No need to wait for cherry season and no inconsistency from drink to drink. Fresh cherries are lovely muddled in the drink too, don't get me wrong, but I'm all about having it come out the same way every time.

My only additions to Phil's fine list would be the Appleton white rum, and Gosling's for a dark rum. The Rittenhouse bonded is scary good. Really scary. I agree with Dave about the Plymouth gin too. I still maintain that the Evan Williams Black Label bourbon is delicious for the price at about $11/bottle. If you're willing to go higher than that, hit up a bottle of the Bulleit. If you want cachaca at your bar, go for the Mae de Ouro. Better quality than most others and it's a liter bottle, rather than a 750ml. If you must have vodka at your bar, seek out Sobieski vodka from Poland. It's taking aim at the high end overpriced Grey Goose and Belvedere at the price of well liquor. Sobieski is made with rye and is a bit more complex. It's a true Eastern European style vodka, with lots of peppery notes and a bit less of that isopropyl alcohol smell you get from wheat vodka. Great QPR at about $11 bottle.

Wow. That's outrageous. You need to get out of this place as soon as is humanly possible. They'd better hope they don't accidentally give someone an allergy attack. What if someone is vegetarian, not for moral reasons, but because they have an allergy to chicken or can't digest animal proteins or something? What happens then? And passing off frozen prepared products as their own creations?? Are you kidding me? That is just beyond reprehensible. Get out. Now. And then expose them for the deceptive and unethical shits that they are. An anonymous phone call/email to the restaurant reviewer of your metro newspaper ought to do it. They seriously need to learn a valuable lesson from this.

Sorry - I should have been more clear. Those are MY personal preferences on the priorities in arranging a list. That's what I thought the question was. It's actually not possible to do all those things at once. Price and body not following in any predictable order was just the best example of that. The Proprietor's Reserve List at Ristorante Panorama here in Philadelphia is an example of a well organized list, in my opinion. The varietals are only listed for the New World wines because Old World wines are more identified by "style" and there is a very capable sommelier on the floor at all times to explain the proportions in the blend, talk about the vinification techniques, etc. For a place that doesn't have an on-the-floor sommelier, I think it would be more important to be more specific with those sorts of details so the guests could have more information before choosing their wines. Obviously, training the wait staff very well makes sense if there isn't an actual sommelier, in addition to having the wine list be more self-explanatory. I hope that makes more sense.

You have to set up your own Excel spreadsheets and then plug in the numbers sold off the sales reports. Compare this to weekly inventories done on the morning after the close of your sales week, which would be Monday for most folks. Excel, just like the POS systems, are only as smart as the person that programmed them. If you set up the equations in the columns to compare actual inventory vs. "expected inventory", you should be able to produce a variance report weekly that will show you where you have losses. Whether those losses are due to theft, overpouring or sloppy inventory counting is the forensics part of the job which comes next.

Bubbles => Whites => Reds Within each wine type: by Country then Region then Varietal then Body (lightest to heaviest) It's not possible to do body AND price at the same time. Those two things don't necessarily follow in order.

I dunno. I just opened a small tub of the 2% plain Fage earlier this week and it seemed fine to me. Or at least as it always had. Granted, I didn't check the label for it's providence, but it was delicious over sliced farmer's market strawberries drizzled with lavender honey. Maybe the "new" yogurt hasn't hit the shelves in Philly yet? I'll check the label next time I'm at Trader Joe's and see if I'm correct. I never tried any of fruit flavors, so I can't comment on their texture or quality. I've always been a fan of the plain Fage or the prepackaged sectioned container with honey.

The Ramey chardonnays aren't unoaked, but judiciously oaked, seemingly a rarity in the land of wines that taste like French kissing Pinocchio. I'm sure if you can track down any of the wines I suggested you'll be happy. I think the '05 and '06 vintages are what's currently available. I just tasted all these last month at the Philadelphia Wine Festival. They're just as good as I remember them being in past years.

Doodad: Try and find wines from either Ramey Vineyards or Gundlach-Bundchu, two of my favorite California producers. Ramey specializes in glorious chardonnays that are not overoaked, a rarity in Cali chards. David Ramey is a brilliant winemaker who takes a much more Burgundian approach than most of his cohorts, and the single vineyard chardonnays (Hudson or Hyde vineyards) are just delicious. Even his appellation series (Carneros, Russian River or Sonoma Coast), which are lower priced are an excellent value for the quality of the wine in the bottles. They just spend less time in barrel than the single vineyard selections. Gundlach-Bundschu produces both a delicious Chardonnay and possibly my favorite domestic gewurtztraminer. The gewurz smells so good you won't know whether to drink it or dab it behind your ears. It would be delicious with almost anything, but particularly tasty with spicier fare.

Mr. Mink stopped by at Chick's not long ago with a friend, and I was very happy to see him. Although technically, I never worked for him, he was always very kind and gracious to me, as was his entire family whenever they stopped in while I did work there. I'm sorry for the long time staff at SSOH. There are some really nice folks (mostly BOH) that have literally worked there for decades. Also office personnel that are unseen, but keep the place running. They're all out of a job now with no severance except unemployment. That sucks. Some of the newer and younger staff are also out of work, but I suspect should be able to find suitable employ elsewhere in any of the newer restaurants just opened/opening around town. But it sucks to get blindsided and suddenly be unemployed. Been there. Done that. Here's to hoping SSOH returns to its former glory under the new (old) tenure.

I had dinner at L'Angolo last week after having been absent for far too long and it was excellent. Shared an arugula salad and asparagus wrapped in prosciutto with grilled shrimp to start, a pasta course that was a special of veal ravioli with truffle cream sauce. DP had a filet special and I had the chicken with pancetta and rosemary. All very delicious and set us back about $40/person with tip for two apps, one pasta and two entrees. L'Angolo is BYOB, so you'll want to bring a bottle.

As did I. It's sad but true. I heard about the closure a couple of weeks ago and was saddened at the news. I never went to Overtures as often as I should have, given how delicious the food was, how gracious the service was and what a good value it was. Not to mention it was probably one of the prettiest rooms in town. I hope Peter enjoys his retirement. He's a lovely man and a very talented chef. Both he and his restaurant will be sorely missed.

Chris: Sounds like the cousin of the drink two posts up. Check that out.

This month's beer event! Sly Fox Beer Dinner Inspirations and Interpretations Tuesday, June 24, 2008, 7PM Old world charm or new world innovation? Why choose just one when you can enjoy both at the same time! Come join Sly Fox’s GABF award-winning head brewer Brian O’Reilly, faithful beer ambassador Suzanne Woods, and your friends at Chick’s Café for a truly entertaining, educational, and inspiring beer filled evening. Throughout the evening, we will be offer invigorating examples of Sly Fox’s local, craft-brewed beers, side-by-side with the venerable world classics that originally inspired them. We will explore beer styles such as Belgian Saison, Bavarian Weisse, Northern German Pilsner, Irish Dry Stout, and Belgian Abbey Quadrupel. Chick’s Chef Jim Piano will contribute a similarly inspired four course dinner to help accentuate and complement each of these beers. Along the way, there will also be a few potable surprises courtesy of bartender Jon Medlinsky, a memorable cooking demonstration provided by Adam Gertler, the hometown hero of TV’s the Next Food Network Star, and also a musical finale performed by local singer-songwriter Iota. Quite a special night indeed! See both sides, drink both sides. Cheers! $65 per person (prices do not include tax or gratuity, and all items subject to availability) RSVP to 215.625.3700 or Chickscafe@gmail.com 614 S. 7th Street ~ Philadelphia, PA 19147 ~ http://www.chickscafe.com/

We have Valdeon blue cheese stuffed dates wrapped in bacon on the menu at my bar. They're sinful. Salty, sweet, smoky and creamy all at once. More deliciousness per square inch than any other food item I can think of.

Does the "P" have to stand for "pre"??? How about POST?? The last few days I've eaten soup dumplings, a chili dog and lots of Mexican food as well as pizza and lots of Farmer's cheese with dill on sea salt flatbreads. WTF??

Jean, I'm sure you could muddle your way to a perfectly delicious cocktail for home use. I have to think in terms of what saves me time and provides the easiest way to mix if I'm busy. I also like the depth of flavor and ease of use one gets with herbal simple syrups and that plays into my decision to make a lot of my own mixers for behind the bar. The lemon cordial is sort of the homemade version of "Roses Lemon Cordial" if such a thing existed. It works really well both in cocktails and for nonalcoholic drinks like lemonade or as a splash in iced tea. Easy and versatile works behind the bar, and since it really doesn't take that long to make a batch that lasts at least a couple of weeks, is worth it for home use as well, IMO.

A friend and former coworker of mine is a "forensic wine examiner" for Sotheby's, I believe, and spends his time evaluating and appraising wine for auction. He says there's tons of fraud and you'd be surprised at how sophisticated the forgers can get with the labelling, etchings on the bottles, etc. You really have to know what you're looking for, but I guess that's what he's for.

In previews of a future episode, they do show her falling on her ass. ← Awesome! Where is that jumping up and down with glee and anticipation smiley when you need it?

Listen to Phil. He's right. The wonderful thing about Thai Basil (easily obtained at an Asian grocery) is that it has a slight minty-ness to it that really works in cocktails. Delicious with gin, vodka, or even cachaca. Works well with Plymouth gin in a Gin-Gin Mule too. Try making a Thai Basil syrup by throwing a cup of Thai basil into two cups of boiling 1:1 simple syrup. Let the leaves blanch for just a minute or two and then turn off the heat and let it cool slightly. Buzz it through the blender in small batches (be VERY careful. Hot simple syrup expands exponentially in the blender container. Keep a kitchen towel held over the lid. I have cleaned simple syrup off my kitchen ceiling so I speak from experience) to expose maximum surface area and let cool overnight in the fridge. Strain carefully the next day and keep refrigerated. The other component is either a lemon vodka (Hangar One Buddha's Hand Citron is my fave, Ketel One Citroen will do in a pinch) and some fresh lemon juice or some lemon cordial syrup. My recipe for lemon cordial is HERE in RecipeGullet. 2.5 oz. vodka/gin .75 oz fresh lemon juice .75 oz Thai Basil syrup lemon cordial to taste depending on whether you're using flavored vodka or not. Shake and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist or a spanked Thai basil leaf. I recently was a winner at a local Bluecoat Gin Bartender Battle for the following drink. The bartending competition is what prompted me to standardize the recipe for the lemon cordial and actally write it down. Front Stoop Lemonade 2 oz. Bluecoat 1 oz. Thai Basil syrup 1 oz. Lemon cordial little splash fresh lemon juice Build over ice in a Collins glass. Toss to mix, fill with soda and stir. Garnish with a lemon wheel.

Homemade Lemon Cordial This recipe makes about 6 cups of cordial for use in cocktail or for lemonade. Use to taste. 1-1/2 c Sugar 1/2 T Citric Acid 1 tsp Tartaric Acid (available at homebrew/winemaking supply stores) 3 c Water Zest of 4 lemons, microplaned 1-1/2 c fresh lemon juice +juice of the four "naked" lemons 2 stalks lemongrass, finely chopped 1-1/2 tsp Orange flower water Stir sugar, citric acid and tartaric acid together with a whisk. Bring water to a boil, then add sugar mixture. Stir thoroughly to dissolve sugar mixture into water. Add lemon juice, lemon zests, lemongrass and stir. Heat mixture for 10 minutes on high heat, turn off heat, cover and cool overnight. Strain out and add Orange flower water. Refrigerate for another day before using (the flavor continues to change a bit). Stored in the refrigerator, it should keep better than simple syrup. Keywords: Non-Alcoholic Beverage ( RG2129 )

I had the $6 gyros twice. They're awesome. One time I shared the "Combination Platter #2" with a coworker. For $14 you get half a roast chicken, two sides, a small Greek salad and a gyro. Best $7 I spent that day and we both had leftovers. The $2 spanikopitas and tiropitas are awesome too. And 5 dolmades for $3 isn't bad either. It was all so good. I can't wait until they do it again.

I agree that the challenge itself was a bit of a fool's errand. Ten minutes to plan your menu and you're already just barely keeping your lips above the water line no matter how fast you tread. If they'd had an hour or even 45 minutes I think everyone's results would have been far better.